Benevolent Hearts
by mistress amethyst une
Summary: COMPLETE! Midii is a new Preventer. She is partnered with Trowa who happens to be her Nanashi. Later, she is accused of a horrible crime. Why did she do it and can she undo her wrongs before others are hurt and killed?
1. Chapter 1

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 1**

Vivid blue sky placidly rested above cerulean ocean waves. Gentle winds blew whispering of a long lost love. Only a shipwreck proved testimony to the tempest that had passed through this area of the Pacific but a few days ago...

Amongst the driftwood of a ruined lifeboat was the seemingly lifeless body of a young girl with long golden locks. Her hair trailed in the water as she floated face up and bobbed up and down with the ocean current...

* * *

"What do you mean the ocean liner sank?!" yelled Une at her secretary.

A perturbed look clouded the Preventer Chief's usually pristine hazel eyes. Her brow furrowed in worry as she frowned. Sunk in the Pacific, the ship her cousin was on hadn't made it to port. Now she feared that the young girl, her last living blood relative, was dead.

The secretary appeared disturbed and threw a fearful glance at Une.

"I'm sorry ma'm," she said, "But I have some good news..."

"What?"

"There was one survivor. A young blonde girl by the name of Midii Une. They found her floating in a ruined life boat a few meters away from the ship..."

"Where is she?"

"She's in a nearby hospital recuperating..."

* * *

Une gaped at the slumbering figure on the hospital bed as she sat on a nearby stool. Looking at the girl's champagne blonde tresses and comparing it to her own auburn locks, it seemed improbable that they were related.

Slowly, the girl's eyelids fluttered open to reveal exquisite emerald orbs which contrasted Une's coffee-colored gaze. Was she really related to this girl?

DNA testing said yes. Midii was a blood relative and the daughter of her father's half-brother. In a sense, they were half-cousins...

But why such a profound difference in looks?

Midii was three quarters French owing to the fact that her mother had been French and her father had been half-French. Une's parents, on the other hand, were pure Germans...

Une really had no idea why she was seeing Midii. She had never even met the girl before and their fathers had been at constant war. Une's father was from her grandfather's first wife, a chocolate-haired German who died early. Midii's father was the fruit of wedlock. His mother had been a struggling French actress named Yvette who had been famed for her lustrous golden locks. Sadly, that relationship didn't work out and Une's grandfather was left to raise the two boys.

Growing up, the two boys constantly fought. As grown men, Une's father became an OZ general and married a prominent Alliance ambassador. Midii's father, on the other hand, left to support the colonies' rebellion and went off into space. He married a French girl by the name of Antoinette and lived a peaceful life until the war. During the war, the whole family got sick with the exception of Midii. It was stated in some old Alliance files that Midii became a spy to support her family. Despite this, the family died leaving the poor girl orphaned.

Midii smiled up at Une, "It's nice to meet you dear cousin."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," was the Preventer Chief's cold reply. She really didn't care much for the girl and it showed.

Midii's smile faltered, "I'm sorry, have I done something wrong? You seem angry..."

Une looked sternly at the girl, "How did the ship sink? Was it just coincidence that a traitorous spy like yourself was onboard?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're an ex-Alliance spy. I don't trust spies..."

And with that, the Preventer Chief turned leaving her shocked cousin to gape at her as she left.

* * *

"So you wish to be a Preventer?" asked Une.

"Yes, ma'm," replied Midii as she stood before the Preventer Chief.

They were in Une's office and Midii's job interview was being conducted.

"But you're an ex-Alliance spy," said Une wryly, "And, as you can recall from our meeting in the hospital, I utterly loathe spies. How can I trust you?"

"Blood is thicker than water," she replied, "I am your next of kin and the two of us are the only remnants of our family. If you cannot trust your family, who can you trust? Besides, I've abandoned espionage. It causes way too much pain to those I betray and I've experienced and given enough hurt to last a lifetime. I don't want to harm anyone..."

Une was impressed by her answer and smiled, "Just because you're family doesn't mean you will be receiving any special favors."

"I understand."

"Then let me introduce you to your new partner."

Une rose from her desk and opened the door to reveal a young boy of seventeen with light brown hair and long, almost spiky, bangs. His eyes were a deep olivine color and his face was expressionless, as if robbed of all emotion.

"Midii, I'd like you to meet Trowa Barton. He'll be your partner. His codename is Preventer Zephyr and yours is Preventer Breeze. I hope you two get along..."

"Nanashi..." whispered Midii to herself.

"Trowa," whispered Une in his ear, "This is Midii Une. She's my cousin and an ex-Alliance spy so I expect you to keep a close watch on her. Can you do that?"

"Yes ma'm," he replied with that same expressionless look on his face.

"Midii..." he thought to himself, "The spy who betrayed me so long ago..."

* * *

To Be Continued

* * *

So how was it? This is my first Midii Trowa fic and I won't update until I get 3 reviews. Please give me your insights and ideas...


	2. Chapter 2

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 2**

"Your first mission involves the shipwreck..." Une had said as Midii and Trowa were handed documents outlining their mission.

The ship was the S.S. Aquarius and the Preventer's means of travel. It delivered the Preventer's armaments and transported their guests. Midii was aboard the Aquarius as Une's guest but something went awry and the ship sank. The ship's cargo, a massive shipment of Polaris mini-mobile dolls, was feared to be lost.

The Polarises (PRV-01MD Polaris) were a state of the art innovation and the Preventer organization's new weapon. Approved by the Earth Sphere Unified Nations, it was miniscule compared to the old mobile dolls deployed during the war. Equipped with a cloaking device and standing at approximately four feet in height, it was the size of an average child, excellent for espionage and quelling small riots. Its main means of defense was the stun gun which was used to take down criminals and the like. The Preventer organization, ever since its creation in AC 196, was responsible for keeping the peace and eventually became Earth and the colonies' elite police force. Naturally, they were given a varied array of gadgets and gizmos to toy with but the Polarises were, by far, the most valuable equipment they possessed. To lose those mobile dolls would equal an insurmountable budget deficit which Une, the Preventer chief, might not be able to handle.

Riding a ferry out to sea, Midii felt much foreboding over visiting the shipwreck. Her anxiety was compounded by the fact that she was with her partner, a man she feared to be the Nanashi she loved yet betrayed. Sighing, she looked up to the sky and observed the cirrus clouds as they swirled and merged. Truly breathtaking was how the sunbeams danced upon the clouds as the Earth's lone daystar rose...

Sunbeams... It had been a sunny day when she committed that travesty and betrayed her beloved. It was all so clear...

"_How much did you get?" he asked her, his voice quaking with rage._

_She appeared sullen and fidgeted with the electronic device around her neck, "Enough so that my three little brothers and my sick father will be able to eat for a while." _

"_That thing around your neck is a transmitter, isn't it...?" he questioned with much resentment upon uncovering her betrayal, "The Federation could hear every move we made."_

"That's right..." was her curt reply, "But you're still alive. You're the only one." 

_He angrily yanked the crucifix from his neck and threw it asunder, "Because of this?"_

"_I'll tell you. That cross is also a transmitter."_

_Drawing a gun from the folds of his jacket, he aimed at her._

"_Even you can get angry, hm? Nanashi..."_

_She paused and eyed the gun he had pointed at her._

"_You once said that I was you. But really I'm completely different. I'm not happy like you," she remarked._

"_You're saying, I'm happy?" replied the boy._

_Taking off the gadget around her neck, she met his stare," You have freedom. You're lots happier than me."_

"_**I like you," thought Midii to herself.**_

"_You have nothing that can be taken away from you," she continued, "No name, no past, right now, not even companions."_

"_I have the name Midii Une. I have a sick father and three little brothers." She was choking back her tears now._

"_**I love you," persisted the thoughts in her head.**_

"_Because of that, I had to become a spy and cause the deaths of lots of people." Teardrops now stained her cheeks._

"_I can't even say "I love you" to the person I love! Do you understand why?!" she cried._

_Her words were met with silence._

"_Because I'm not empty like you! I have too much! Family! A home! The knowledge of what bad things I've done!"_

"_**I wanted to always be with you..." insisted the thoughts in her mind.**_

"_That's why I hate empty people like you!" she screamed._

"_**Always with you, who I love...!" continued her bemused psyche.**_

"_Is that all you've got to say?" he finally spoke._

_Midii was in shock._

"_You're better off than me. You have somewhere to go home to. Goodbye, Midii."_

_She closed her eyes and awaited her death as he cocked the gun directed at her, "Goodbye, Nanashi..."_

_Two shots sounded and broke the eerie silence. Slowly, Midii opened her eyes to behold the cross and transmitter. Both lay smoldering on the ground and Nanashi had gone... _

"We're here," remarked Trowa causing Midii to snap out of her reverie.

They were in the middle of the Pacific now and as they boarded a speedboat, Midii wondered...

"Trowa? How are we going to arrive at the shipwreck, it's underwater and we don't have any scuba gear."

"We'll rendezvous with Preventers Ember and Flame. They're in charge of the Aurora."

"Aurora?"

"The mini-sub. Preventer Chief Une has a fondness for naming equipment."

"I see... So who are Ember and Flame?"

"You'll find out soon enough..."

In the distance a bright yellow mini-sub was rising from the ocean waters. As they neared, the sub's hatch opened and a boy of about 18 popped out. He was indigo-eyed, cheery and had a long braid of dark brown hair.

"Hey Zephyr!" he asked in a jolly tone, "Who's the girl?"

"Hello Duo..." was Trowa's dismal reply.

"Hey!" he rebuked with a laugh, "We're on assignment. I'm Flame, remember?"

"Whatever."

Trowa got out of the speedboat and shoved Duo to the side as he entered the sub.

"What's with him?" he asked as he turned to Midii.

Midii shrugged, "I'm new and I don't know him that well..."

"A newbie, eh? So what's your name?"

"Midii Une. I'm the Chief's cousin. My codename's Breeze..."

"Nice to meet you then," he said as he extended his hand to her to help her out of the boat, "You're not as grouchy as boss lady are you?"

"Boss lady?"

"It's what we preventers call your cousin behind her back. Anyway, are you?"

"Nope."

"Then welcome to the team," he smiled as he aided her in entering the hatch.

"Took you long enough..." said a female voice, "What were you doing up there? Flirting?"

"Maybe..." replied Duo teasingly.

"Duo!"

"Just kiddin' Hilde," he said with a snigger, "Geez, don't you trust me?"

"To be honest, no. Who's the new prev?"

Midii peered out from behind Duo and eyed the female preventer. She was called Hilde and had striking obsidian eyes and short raven hair. Her lips were turned up in a friendly smile.

"What's the matter?" asked Hilde, "Am I too intimidating?"

"Midii," she finally blurted, "My name's Midii Une and my codename's Breeze."

"Well then," replied Hilde, "I'm Hilde Schbeicher a.k.a. Ember. Welcome."

She offered Midii a handshake which the girl nervously accepted.

"Nice to meet you," was all she could say.

"Alright then," said Hilde, "Take a seat."

She motioned to the chair beside her and Midii obliged. Sitting down, Hilde pushed a few buttons and opened the view screen. Putting on a set of headphones and fiddling with the communication system's microphone, Hilde spoke.

"Cirrus this is Ember. Do you copy?"

"Cirrus here," crackled Une's voice as her fuzzy image appeared on the screen, "What is it?"

"We're at the shipwreck. How do we proceed?"

"Recover all the Polarises," she said, "Proceed with caution."

"Is that all ma'm?"

"Yes, over and out..."

The screen went blank before revealing the underwater landscape. It was a depressing sight. Pieces of the ship were strewn all over the ocean floor along with mobile doll parts.

"Une won't be happy about this," sighed Hilde as she searched for traces of intact Polarises.

"There was an explosion," said Trowa.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" asked Hilde.

"If this had been an ordinary wreck, some mobile dolls would have survived. Look at the wreckage and you'll notice that Polaris parts have been flung everywhere. Only an explosion could have done that. Someone bombed the S.S. Aquarius..."

Silence pervaded the mini-sub. Somebody had intentionally sunk the Aquarius in order to cripple the Preventers. But who?

"How can that be?" blurted Duo, "The only survivor from the Aquarius disaster is Midii and she couldn't possibly have done it. Could she?"

Three pairs of piecing eyes landed on Midii with calculating stares. Was there a traitor in their midst?

* * *

To Be Continued

Ok, I finally finished Chapter 2. Hm... Did Midii sink the Aquarius? The answer may surprise you... Please read and review so I can have some inspiration to aid me in writing Chapter 3!


	3. Chapter 3

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 3**

"Why are you looking at me like that?" asked Midii upon noticing the intensity within each of her colleagues stares, "Surely you don't think that I-"

"You have a history of betrayal," interrupted Trowa as he stood to face her, "Chief Une told me you're an ex-Alliance spy. Furthermore, we know each other from the past or don't you recall?

The dead underwater environment remained visible via the still open view screen. They hadn't fully descended when Trowa had made his explosion theory and were halfway to the oceans' bottom. More proof of the devastation that had struck the Aquarius seemed to point an accusing finger at Midii as Trowa condemned her with his words.

"Why so quiet?" he continued,"I thought you recognized me. I still remember you, Midii. A few years back, we met and you betrayed me. I was known as Nanashi then."

Midii gasped as she sat there feeling infinitesimal amidst his accusation and admission that he was indeed Nanashi.

"So my hunch was right. I never thought I'd see you again."

"I never thought you'd betray me again," he said icily,"In the past, you used espionage to aid your family. Now that Chief Une is your only blood relative remaining, you choose to betray her after she offers you aid. What kind of wicked being are you? Do you get a thrill from ruining people's lives? By destroying those Polarises, you may have very well shattered the peace. There's going to be a huge budget deficit within the Preventers' funds and our organization could very well cease to be. Who's going to protect the people once we're gone?"

Trowa was quaking with rage as he turned to the controls in order to make the sub ascend. Five minutes of uncomfortable silence followed as Trowa called the speedboat driver to come fetch him.

"I can't work like this," he said as he opened the hatch, "I'm leaving."

The roar of a speedboat engine was heard from outside. Preventers were provided with the best vehicles decked out with the finest autopilot and navigation systems and their modes of transportation had amazing speed to boot. It was no surprise that Trowa's ride had arrived so quickly. Within a matter of seconds, he had gone.

Hilde rose to close the hatch, "I wonder what's gotten into him."

Midii sat frozen as Duo proceeded to access the controls and resume the sub's descent. The mission had to continue...

Hilde returned to her seat and called Une, "Cirrus this is Ember. Do you copy?"

"I copy," Une's crackly voice replied, "No visual though. You'll have to make do with audio."

"That's fine," replied Hilde as she continued to survey the shipwreck as the sub descended. The video screen continued to show images of the outside and seeing the eerie structure of twisted metal that had once been the Preventers' mighty ocean liner plus knowing that the bits of technological carnage, in the form of ruined Polaris parts, could spell the end for the organization she worked for, made her sick.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," began Hilde, "But none of the Polarises we've seen so far managed to survive."

It took Une a while to reply with a disheartened, "Oh... Is that so?"

"Yes ma'am."

"This might be a problem. Ember, try to salvage as many parts as you possibly can. Hopefully, you'll find at least one or two of them intact."

"There's another problem."

"What?"

"Zephyr left. He suspects Breeze might have sabotaged Aquarius."

"But how?"

"Parts are strewn about everywhere, ma'am. There was most probably an explosion."

Midii stiffened in her seat. How would her cousin react?

"Impossible!" alleged Une, "Midii knows nothing of explosives."

"Still, she was the only survivor and I doubt the other preventers, who died on the Aquarius, were suicide bombers. I knew those guys and they were a clean-cut batch from your finest OZ platoon."

"Yes, their deaths were quite a loss but let's not count them out. One of them might have been compromised. I'll run an extensive background check on everyone who was aboard the Aquarius including Breeze. Cirrus, over and out."

Midii had just lost the trust of her last living family member and the man she once loved loathed her. Trowa was probably going to hold her responsible for crippling the ESUN's only defense and means of law enforcement. She was in deep trouble now...

"Perk up," said Duo out of the blue as he finished calibrating the controls guiding the sub's descent, "Innocent until proven guilty, I always say."

He stood up to sit beside Midii, "Une's fair and she won't do anything rash. Ain't that right, Hil?"

"Yeah, she's always been kind to us," replied Hilde, "But Trowa's suspicions aren't ill-founded. I kind of suspect you, no offense."

"None taken," answered Midii, "But, to be honest, I don't know a thing about blowing stuff up."

"You know," said Duo in a contemplative tone, "I don't think I've ever seen Trowa lose his temper like that. What's the deal with you two anyway?"

"It was back in AC 190," explained Midii, "I was one of the children who spied for the Alliance. It was easy for kids like me to sneak into enemy camps and they paid well so I did it to help my family. I met Trowa then. "

"How?"

"He saved my life while I was trying to infiltrate a nearby camp. Some rebel soldiers took pity on us and led me straight to the location I was supposed to gain access to for the Alliance. Back then Trowa was known as Nanashi which basically means No-name."

"That doesn't explain why he's so pissed at you."

"I'm getting to that part," said Midii as she took a sharp intake of breath, "I thanked Nanashi by giving him a crucifix transmitter so the army wouldn't mark him as an enemy and kill him. I had another transmitter around my neck so the Alliance would identify me as one of their own. The army launched a surprise attack and Nanashi saved my life again. All his soldier friends died in the battle... It didn't take him long to realize what I'd done. I told him that I'd saved him with the crucifix transmitter and that I was a spy. He almost killed me but chose to walk away."

"Well that explains a lot," said Hilde, "I guess you never thought you'd see him again."

"That's true," replied Midii with a sigh, "But I never forgot him. I fell in love with him when he saved me and that still hasn't worn off. I guess he never quite forgave me for what I did. He expects the worst of me."

Duo cleared his throat as a tiny red light flashed on the sub's controls, "We've reached the ocean bed. Let's wrap up this mission, shall we?"

"Alright," said Hilde, "Let's survey this and call for a crew to salvage what we manage to trace."

Hilde and Duo went for the controls and busily programmed the video screen to photograph the wreckage. The pictures would be a great help to the divers left to do the dirty work.

"Hey Midii," said Hilde, "Care to join us?"

Midii smiled faintly and rose from her seat before uttering a meek, "Sure," and joining her new friends.

Duo wisecracked and asked, "Just wondering, but do you know boss lady's real name?"

"Real name?" wondered Midii.

"Since her days in OZ," interjected Hilde, "You're cousin's been known simply as Lady Une. We were wondering if that's her real name."

Midii shook her head, "Lady is her title because her father inherited the title of Lord from her grandfather. She's an only child and her mother died young so she became the lady of the family. She's been known as Lady Une since she was four or so she told me when I asked her about her name during our first phone conversation before we even met. As far as I know, she's kept her real name well-hidden. Even I don't know it."

"Gee, I wonder why she'd want to hide her first name so much," speculated Duo.

* * *

To be continued 

What's Une's real name and why is it such a secret? Where did Trowa go after leaving the sub? Why didn't I update in almost a year? (Answer: I had summer school because of Algebra and I had a lot of back-to-school stuff to do plus Mom banned me from the internet) More mysteries are arising and unraveling them will be quite a feat for me. Of course, I already know how this ends but you don't. You'll find out soon enough... I hope people still review me. I'm such a bad author for leaving so long...


	4. Chapter 4

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 4**

Relena Darlian watched Trowa Barton with apprehension. The former princess of the Sank Kingdom and ex-queen of the world scarcely received any visits from the aloof figure that stood almost menacingly before her. His stance was as indifferent as ever and his green eyes reminded her of grass growing beneath arctic tundra, a faint flicker of life amidst an expanse of death.

She tried to give a semblance of composure as she sat behind her desk and absentmindedly ran her fingers through her golden hair whilst attempting to plaster on a weak smile. Her blue eyes were overshadowed by the dark circles beneath them as she searched her scattered brain for the proper words to say.

"Mr. Barton," she said clearing her throat which was parched from lack of water and an over-indulgence in the saccharine and insanely expensive coffees her secretary always seemed to bring her, "What brings you here?"

"Vice Foreign Minister," he replied, using Relena's current title within the ESUN, "I require your assistance regarding a fellow preventer."

It took all of Relena's will power to stifle a yawn. She had been up all night sifting through reports with regards to the Aquarius disaster and was in the midst of closing a merger between the former Sank Kingdom treasury and the Preventer budget committee. If all went well, Une wouldn't have to worry about losing her organization.

"Shouldn't you take this up with your superior?" she said as she finally reached for the untouched mug of water that had been sitting on her desk for a good thirty minutes while she had busied herself with budget balancing. She drank deeply as he arched an eyebrow at her.

"You have way too much faith in that boyfriend of yours."

She immediately choked and sputtered. Coughing, she put her water down and glared at him.

"Heero is your superior," she said as she took a quick gasp of air, "My relationship with him has nothing to do with you seeking his council. As I recall, he's Preventer Chief Une's second-in-command and mission partner and all matters to be taken up regarding your job are to be brought to him. If the matter is exceedingly urgent, then go directly to the Chief. You shouldn't be asking me about anything regarding Preventer business. It's not in my itinerary and it wouldn't be right for me to meddle."

"Well, I remember you meddling in Preventer business once before, Miss Darlian. I happen to know that you personally spoke to the Chief to make sure Heero wasn't partnered with anyone you disapproved of. Heero and the Chief agreed to be partners due to your prying. I still recall how riled up you were when you thought he'd end up training young female recruits at Lake Victoria."

Relena's face burned red. With her eye bags, she looked like a pink raccoon that had just been force-fed poison. What Trowa had said was true; she didn't want Heero teaching female recruits at the newly renovated Lake Victoria Preventer Academy. For heaven's sake, she doubted that even a man of his caliber could resist pretty young things with an affinity for firepower. A girl who could fire a gun was probably a Gundam pilot's ideal girl. Milliardo had Noin, Duo had Hilde and Treize Khushrenada once had Une...

She decided to partner Heero up with Une for the particular reason that Une was serious about her work and lived her life to honor Treize's memory. It seemed like a good match on the battlefield since the team of Nimbus and Cirrus was feared and called in for the most violent shoot-outs.

"I reserve the right to pretend that I didn't hear what you just said," stated Relena coolly, "Now, why again did you come to see me?"

He handed her a brown envelope containing a photograph he had purloined from Une's office, "This is the picture of a new preventer who happens to be linked to the Aquarius disaster. Look at it. You might be meeting her soon."

With those words, Trowa Barton left Relena to contemplate what he had given her.

Relena eyed the envelope and saw the words Midii Une written on the front in the Preventer Chief's handwriting. Reluctantly, she opened it to discover what Trowa had bothered her for. Reaching inside, she pulled out the glossy photograph of a young blonde girl with beautiful curls and hauntingly striking emerald eyes. Relena couldn't help but gawk at those eyes. They seemed to call out to her with a clamoring clandestine loneliness and frailty.

"Those are Trowa's eyes," thought Relena almost automatically as she gaped at the girl in the picture. Those green orbs bore the same reticent life that Trowa carried in his gaze.

Relena's phone began to ring and she immediately picked up.

"Hello, this is Vice Foreign Minster Darlian speaking."

"Did you open it?" came Trowa's familiar voice.

"Trowa, it hasn't even been five minutes since you left the office."

"Did you open it?" he repeated completely ignoring her previous statement.

"I did," she replied knowing that it was pointless to argue, "She's a pretty girl. Who is she?"

"My mission partner, Breeze. Her name is Midii Une. She's the Chief's cousin."

Relena was silent for a good ten seconds before replying, "But they look nothing alike! There's no family resemblance whatsoever!"

"Exactly," said Trowa, "They don't look anything alike yet Chief Une has let herself be deluded into believing that Midii truly is her cousin. I happen to know of the Chief's dislike of spies and that girl's history with regards to espionage. The Chief also knew this but hired her despite of it and did so without so much as a test. The only precaution she took was asking me to guard over the damn girl."

"Don't jump to conclusions. For all you know, they really are cousins by some distant link. Besides, Midii looks like she has a benevolent heart."

"A benevolent heart! She caused the murders of thousands with her spying."

"And you killed tens of thousands with your piloting. My point is, if you can turn away from your blood-soaked existence, she also has the capability to leave espionage."

Relena heard a click on the end of the other line. He had hung up on her. She sighed heavily, why were men so stubborn?

She booted her laptop and resumed her work until a faint knocking shattered the silence. Preventer Chief Une was in bad shape as she entered Relena's office. Her eyeliner had run down her face from crying and her lipstick was smudged. The dark circles beneath her eyes were exceedingly prominent and she had her right hand covering a particular portion of her left shoulder as if to conceal an injury. A dark stain besmirched her dark green uniform in the area surrounding the part of her shoulder she was desperately trying to cover as she staggered forward.

"Preventer Chief Une, "said Relena with worry as she rose from behind her desk, "Please come sit down."

Une continued to stagger but faltered and fell. She released her shoulder in order to use her arms to cushion her fall. Relena rushed forward to help her up and took Une's right hand. She immediately noticed that it was damp with red liquid and her attention was drawn to the area Une's hand had been concealing. There was a tear in her uniform and fresh blood was pouring out of a gash in her left shoulder.

"You're wounded!" exclaimed Relena.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," said Une with a weak smile, "Get back behind your desk so we can discuss business and I can get my shoulder fixed."

Une's voice was hardly commanding but Relena felt compelled to obey and returned behind her desk. The Preventer Chief picked herself up; sat on the chair Relena had offered earlier and resumed covering her wound to avoid causing any discomfort with the bloody sight though she couldn't help but cringe with each twinge and spasm of pain.

"Preventer Zephyr left his mission and we've been searching for him," said Une, "I thought you might have knowledge of his whereabouts."

"If you mean Trowa," replied Relena, "He was here just half an hour ago. I just got off the phone with him. He's very disgruntled with regards to his mission partner."

"Yes, my cousin Midii and he have a history together. Preventers Ember and Flame told me about it an hour after their mission ended. Trowa left her behind on her first mission. Hardly professional, don't you agree? Anyway, what drivel has Trowa been filling your head with?"

"He believes you're being blind by hiring Midii without even testing her."

"But I did test her," said Une incredulously, "I'm not foolish enough to do something like hiring a preventer who hasn't been formally trained. Midii had a three month course at the Lake Victoria Preventer Academy and passed with flying colors due to her excellent stealth and shooting skills. The Aquarius was taking her to Preventer HQ with the Polaris shipment from Lake Victoria and that's how she got involved in the disaster. I granted her an interview upon her arrival and she answered my questions satisfactorily so I hired her. This was my cousin's first mission and Trowa had the gall to insinuate that she was the cause of the Aquarius disaster. To be honest, I also suspect Midii because of her shady past in the world of espionage but he was far too direct and harsh with her. Trowa has absolutely no faith in my capabilities as a leader to even think I could be blinded by anything in the slightest."

Une's face was convoluted to show her discomfort and it was getting difficult not to cry out in agony.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. This is just a cut. I've had worse. Anyway, what else did he tell you?"

"He gave me this," said Relena as she returned the envelope containing Midii's photo to Une, "I saw your handwriting on the front so I assume he took it from you."

"That would be correct," replied Une as she took the envelope, "As I recall, I left this on my desk. So you know what Midii looks like?"

"Yes, I looked at the photo. You look nothing alike. To tell you the truth, Trowa brought that up. He believes you're letting yourself be hoodwinked into believing Midii's your relative."

"I didn't believe I was related to Midii either until I saw the DNA tests. Midii and I share a common grandfather but different grandmothers. Our fathers were half-brothers so we're half-cousins."

"Well, that explains a lot."

"I just wish this matter would resolve itself. I have enough problems to contend with."

"Things will fix themselves eventually. We just have to hope for the best and give our all. I'm calling an ambulance to fix that shoulder of yours."

Une managed a wobbly smile, "Don't fuss."

"Nonsense," said Relena as she perused her phonebook, "You're injured and you need the help. How did that happen anyway?"

"Another failed assassination attempt. The third one this month. Whoever it was is a bad marksman. The bullet barely grazed my shoulder."

"You should be thankful for that," said Relena as she began dialing the hospital. Upon completing the call, she got up and filled her empty mug with water from the cooler outside her office.

"Here," she said as she handed Une the mug, "I'm guessing you've been through hell today so I assumed you needed a drink."

Une sighed and accepted the mug. She took a sip and eyed Relena, "Honestly, I don't understand why you're so nice to people who've been cruel to you. You should have killed me for assassinating your father."

Relena looked at Une and shook her head. She knew how forlorn a woman the Preventer Chief was. Une yearned to die in order to join the man she loved. It showed in all her actions.

"New beginnings are essential to life but we cannot have new beginnings if we refuse to forgive the trespasses of the past. My father taught me that. I was angry with you then but I imagine my father would have forgiven you so I did what he would have done. I wanted a new beginning."

Une let Relena's words echo in her head. If only Trowa could forgive the trespasses of Midii's past...

* * *

To be continued

Will Trowa ever forgive Midii? Trowa has finally let a few of his emotions out but his anguish has left a bad taste in most everybody's mouth. Was it better for him to keep his feelings bottled up? Who's been trying to assassinate Une? When's the romance going to start? I guess you'll have to wait and see. Please review! Tell me if I'm getting rusty, ok?

Codename trivia: Only top preventers get codenames and mission partners have related codenames in this fic. Cirrus (Une) and Nimbus (Heero) are both cloud types. Flame (Duo) and Ember (Hilde) are both types of Fire. Zephyr (Trowa) and Breeze (Midii) are both types of Wind. As you may recall Noin was Fire and Zechs was Wind in Endless Waltz. Wind can either put out or spread Fire, what do you think? Oh yeah, as I recall, Sally was Water and she was also one of Noin's partners but since Zechs and Noin left for Mars, I'm assuming Wufei is her new partner. I wonder what his codename would be...


	5. Chapter 5

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 5**

"_Why did you go through with the assassination?" asked an indistinguishable digitally altered voice._

"_We were unable to get to our sniper on time," replied another distorted voice, "Luckily, that assassin was an amateur. He missed though he did manage to injure Une's shoulder. This is the third time you've called off an assassination. The first time we managed to get a stab at her by sending one of our goons to thrash her, you called to stop him before the guy could land a good punch. The second time, we tried to stage a violent knife attack but you also called it off and had our hit man restrained though we did manage to wound Une's arms."_

"_I called off the first attack because we needed to plan the Aquarius bombing and it was far too soon to kill her. I stopped the second attack in the name of good taste. I don't believe it's dignified to mutilate a political figure and she hasn't suffered enough psychological torment, in my opinion. That woman is the focal point of our revenge. We will kill her in due time but we must eliminate Darlian first."_

"_Why?"_

"_She is one of the few who may be able to offer financial aid to the Preventers. We also have to neutralize Dorothy Catalonia of the New Romafeller Foundation, Quatre Raberba Winner of the Winner Foundation and President Reginald Hamilton of the ESUN. I want to shatter Une's spirit by destroying her organization before we finally snuff her out."_

"_And what about Alexandra Khushrenada?"_

"_We'll find her too. Revealing her to Une will be the final blow."_

"And that's the partial recording I was able to make," said Midii as she hastily closed the program playing the controversial audio, "My infiltration skills are still as sharp as ever and that wire tap was rigged to crash their entire communications system if they ever tried to remove it. They must have messed with it in order to make sure we wouldn't recognize their voices."

"How'd you manage to get it?" asked Duo as he shut down his laptop. They were in his messy office and he had obliged Midii in using his computer. Upon watching him access his computer's system and observing him type his password, she advised him that 'abc123' wasn't exactly the best security code. He retaliated by telling her that it was easy to remember and she decided to leave it at that.

"I have contacts on the inside," she said, "They planted the recording equipment for me in exchange for a hefty sum. This new organization is crafty and the fact that they have no name for themselves makes them difficult to trace. I'm guessing they've created an all-new communications system by now and I doubt that one will be as easy to tap. "

"Does Chief Une know?"

"Not yet. I have to find more information on Alexandra Khushrenada before I let her hear this."

"What do you know so far?"

"As far as I know, Alexandra Khushrenada is supposedly Treize Khushrenada's wife. Whoever she is, he left everything in his will to her. I doubt my cousin knows of this. I got my information from a priest who worked for OZ and usually performed the last rites for fallen soldiers. The old man had presided over the secret marriage but his foggy eyesight prevented him from seeing what the bride looked like. Everyone dismissed him as a fool but he swears that Treize Khushrenada married a woman named Alexandra and I'm not one to doubt a man of God."

"I don't know about that," joked Duo, "I wanted to be a priest when I was little and I'm not someone you would trust."

At that precise moment, Heero Yuy chose to walk in with his rumpled brown hair and cobalt blue gaze held high. Duo stood up to give him a salute and Midii, sensing that the man who had just entered the room was a man of power, did the same. Heero weakly returned the gesture as he held in a yawn. He had been up all night doing Une's work while she had her shoulder stitched up. Three assassination attempts in one month hadn't slowed his boss in the least. He doubted the bruises on her back or the knife wounds on her arms had healed when she was shot at. Being her second-in-command, he assumed her rank and responsibilities whenever she was indisposed and that was becoming quite frequent.

"I can't believe I have to salute you, " sighed Duo as he put his arm down, "Makes me feel bad to think that you outrank me. What do you have that I don't?"

"Intelligence," he replied with arrogance.

"You're just better at sucking up to that old crone we call Chief."

"She's twenty-one."

"Yeah, but she's such a prude."

"Hey!" interjected Midii, "That's my cousin you're talking about."

Heero looked at Midii curiously, "I assume you're the new preventer."

"Midii Une," said Midii with another salute, "Codename Breeze, sir!"

"No need for formalities," replied Heero as he lazily dismissed her gesture, "My name is Heero Yuy, codename Nimbus. The Chief told me all about you and your problems with Trowa."

Midii frowned, "Have you found him yet?"

"Yes," said Heero with a slight yawn, "I'm going to have to berate him on responsibility. Hopefully, he'll be more cordial towards you after I speak with him."

"Where was he?"

"It's up to him if he wants to tell you. I'm not one to dispense information another individual would rather keep private."

"Is that so?" interrupted Duo, "Then why'd you spill about my little accident with the paper shredder? I would have rather kept it private that I accidentally shredded boss lady's speech for the lovely people known as the grouchy old men from the ESUN."

"That would be _lèse- majestè._ It wouldn't have been right."

"Lezmazes-what? I don't understand you!"

Heero smirked arrogantly and left Duo confused. He was quite pleased with himself upon picking up a few French terms whilst reading on duty. Body-guarding Relena was both the most exciting and boring job in the world so he occasionally packed a book for the more tedious portions of his missions.

Midii giggled at Duo's flabbergasted expression, "He said _lèse- majestè._ Lez-mah-zes-TAY!"

"Oh, now you're doing it too?" he said huffily.

"I was just pronouncing it properly for you," said Midii, "Admittedly, Mr. Yuy's accent is a bit rusty but it's not half bad for a beginner. He must know I'm three-quarters French."

"So what did he say?"

"I'm not exactly fluent in French myself but _lèse- majestè _means an offense or crime against one's ruler or sovereign. More commonly, any presumptuous conduct or overstepping of authority."

"What did Heero mean by saying that? Is he trying to make me look stupid?"

"Don't be silly," said a haughty feminine voice from behind him, "You already are stupid."

"Nice to hear your voice, Miss Dorothy," said Duo turning to glare at the tall long-haired blonde who icily glared back with her sky blue eyes full of fierceness, "I hear you're engaged to Quatre."

She scowled and arched one of her prominent eyebrows before smiling defiantly, "News must get around quick if even a dimwit like you knows."

"I hear it's hardly a love match."

"True," she said serenely, "Quatre and I both had an attempt made on our lives a few weeks ago and New Romafeller has been losing a lot of money. For the security of my organization, Quatre and I made an agreement to marry and merge our fortunes. I feel I will be better protected under his care and marriage between a well-known heiress involved in the war and a mighty Gundam pilot would make it known to the people that peace is here to stay."

"How so?"

"If someone as highly-esteemed as myself can bring herself down to marry a ruffian pilot, doesn't it make a statement about human equality?"

Duo shook his head, "You have one sharp tongue, y'know that?"

"_Mulier est hominis confusio,_" said Dorothy Catalonia with one final smile, "Figure it out."

Duo was smoldering as the arrogant woman walked out his office door, "Is everyone trying to speak foreign to annoy me!"

Midii, who had been witness to the entire conversation, cleared her throat, "Latin," she said, "She spoke Latin."

"What?" said Duo turning to her.

"I'm assuming that was Dorothy Catalonia, right?"

"Yeah, she's annoying as hell."

"The recording mentioned her as one of the unnamed organization's targets. She was attacked in the past?"

"Well, yeah. About three weeks ago, she and Quatre were in a meeting together. Someone tried to clobber them when they stepped out of the building. Luckily, Quatre still has some good moves."

"I see."

"Hey, just wondering, what Latin phrase did she say?"

"Oh, um, I think it was, _mulier est hominis confusio. _From what I know, it means, 'Woman is man's ruin'."

'How the hell do you know so much?"

"You tend to pick stuff up from people you meet while spying."

"So 'Woman is man's ruin?' What the hell did she mean by that?"

"Dunno. But, by the way she acts, I can tell she's brought about the ruin of many men."

Midii was right. Dorothy Catalonia had inadvertently caused her grandfather's death and poisoned Milliardo Peacecraft's mind during the war. She had also controlled the ZERO system at one point and killed thousands with her mobile dolls. A wicked woman with wicked intentions, she had sought to start a war to end all wars. The only man who was able to match her was Quatre Raberba Winner. Despite losing to her in a fencing match, he had done something no one had ever accomplished before. He had drawn true tears from her eyes. He defeated her with a kindness that matched her devious force. He revealed the true goodness she hid and her true agenda in starting a war. She wanted peace and in making a war nobody would ever forget, she had hoped that man would be cured of bloodlust. Only he understood her and even she, begrudgingly, admitted it.

Dorothy smiled to herself as she walked down the hall to knock on the door of Heero Yuy's office. A sapphire gleamed on her left ring finger. She hardly remembered which finger it was proper to keep an engagement ring on but she hardly cared. Daintily, she knocked again.

Heero opened the door with a groan, "What are you here for?"

"Nice to see you so happy to see me," she said with a sarcastic edge to her tone, "Is this how you treat a client?"

"Come in," he grumbled.

Heero's self-imposed sleep deprivation was beginning to take its toll on the emotionless facade he usually carried. He found himself showing the dominant feeling surging through him: arrogant annoyance. He just couldn't understand why the others couldn't do their jobs right. Why the hell did they make so many damn mistakes? At seventeen, he occasionally took the reins of one of the most powerful organizations in both Earth and space. He was also in charge of protecting Relena Darlian who, in addition to being his age and the person he was enamored with, was one of the most influential politicians alive. He played boyfriend, bodyguard and businessman and it was starting to get to him. Even perfect soldiers have their limits...

He walked over to his desk, sat down and slumped behind a pile of paperwork, "What the hell do you want?"

"I guess normal life isn't suiting you, then?" said Dorothy as she pushed the stack of documents aside and peered at him, "At least you haven't lost that rudeness of yours yet."

He muttered curses under his breath before glaring at her.

"And that death glare of yours is fading," she added.

"I hate this," he said as he remained slumped on his desk, his head pillowed in his arms, "I just realized today that I'm seventeen and far from what I used to be. Piloting was less stressful than this. I'd rather be hooked up to the ZERO system than doing this damn job."

"I see," she laughed, "So Heero Yuy does have a soul."

"Damn straight," he scowled, "And it's going to be a ghost soon if I don't get back out on the field."

"Worried about Relena?"

He sat up straight upon hearing Relena's name, "What gave you that idea?"

"Well, while you're sitting here playing Chief, did you even bother to check who was assigned to protect her?"

If Dorothy hadn't known any better, she'd have thought that Heero had gone pale as he rushed to boot his laptop to check the body-guarding assignments.

She watched amusedly as he grabbed his jacket and ran out cursing upon seeing his mistake. How could he forget to assign someone to protect Relena?

"I'll get back to you," he said with a grimace as he shut the door behind him.

"No need," she yelled after him knowing he couldn't hear. With a catlike grin, she took a white envelope out of her pocket and placed it on his desk, "I just wanted to invite you to my wedding."

Trowa Barton chose to enter the office at that exact moment, "Miss Catalonia," he said, "Have you seen Heero?"

"He just left," she said, "I see that you don't cling to formalities."

"Chief Une gave us the option to do away with titles," replied Trowa edgily, "She's the only one I choose to address formally since we aren't exactly chummy."

Knowingly, she smiled, "You do know that Quatre and I are to be married?"

"Of course, I paid him a visit after leaving my mission with Midii. It was sickening, how excited he was. I know you, Dorothy. Don't you dare shatter Quatre's kindness."

"So it's Dorothy now, is it?" she said referring to the fact that he'd used her first name, "We aren't exactly chummy either or don't you recall?"

A slight growl underlined his tone, "Forgive me, Miss Catalonia," he said sarcastically, "As my best friend's bride, you deserve the utmost respect."

She smiled, "Don't be so tense. I'm not as wicked as I seem. Dare I say it but I have nothing but positive feelings for Quatre. It's not love but it isn't hate."

She walked past him and out the office door leaving him to sit himself down on the plush chair before Heero's desk. What was wrong with him? He never let Dorothy's prodding get to him and he was happy that Quatre was settling down. The image of sad emerald eyes and a teary little blonde girl flashed through his mind.

"_I can't even say 'I love you' to the person I love!" echoed a demon from the past._

"Damn it, Midii!" he thought, "Get out of my head!"

Right outside, Midii stood at the office door with her eyes misted over with the sheen of tears yet to be spilled. She knew he was in there and she yearned to talk to him. But she couldn't. He would hate her.

Inside, Trowa wrestled with his thoughts.

"You love her," his mind whispered, "You thought and hoped she was just like you when you first met her."

But she was different from him, so very different. She had a benevolent heart that existed and thought about others while his heart had grown dark with the smog of many battles and the aimless existence he led amidst the haze of never knowing who he really was. He had spilled the wrath meant for himself upon her and she would never love him now. He smiled bitterly.

She smiled bitterly too. She leaned against the door and let the tears fall silently. He had a benevolent heart within him and she longed to sweep away all the cobwebs of sorrow and suffering surrounding it. She wanted to touch his heart even as her own was breaking. Breaking from guilt...

"_The lifeboat!" a preventer yelled, "She's taking one of the lifeboats!"_

"_Hey! I found this in her cabin," said one as he held up a small disc-like black thing which very much resembled a flying saucer. A red light on it flashed as it began to emit beeping sounds._

"_That's a bomb!" screamed his comrade as he hurriedly grabbed and pitched the object into the sea. _

"_Why, Midii! What the hell are you doing!" shouted the ship captain who had rushed out on deck as she began to paddle off into the distance._

"_I'm sorry," she wept as she pushed the detonator and watched Aquarius go up in smoke as explosions resounded throughout the ship. _

_She was caught in the blast and fell into darkness as the captain's words echoed in her head, "Why Midii! What the hell are you doing?"_

In truth, no one had died that day. The bombs she had planted were weak but the sheer amount she had distributed throughout the ship, at least a hundred, was enough to sink the Aquarius. The unnamed organization she had formerly worked for rescued the crew of ten from the sinking ocean liner via helicopter and planned to use them against Une. Midii was given up for dead and left to float among the debris. Now, she aimed for revenge against them by helping her cousin and ruining their plans. She had recently paid a visit to her old headquarters and knew what they were up to. They were going to pay for abandoning her. They were going to pay for slaughtering her defenseless disease-stricken family and forcing her to serve them with the threat that they would kill her cousin as well when, in fact, their main objective WAS to kill her cousin. They were going to pay...

Midii continued to cry silently as she sat with her back to the door. Inside the office, Trowa rose from his chair and decided to leave. When he opened the door and saw her sitting there, her tearful face turned to greet him.

"Midii," he whispered, "You're crying..."

She immediately stood up and gave him a pained glance before running away from him. He was shocked and remained motionless as he watched her disappear down the hall. Frozen, he contemplated what he had just seen.

"Were those tears for me?" he wondered out loud.

* * *

To be continued 

Ok, I've finally spilled the beans. Or have I? Midii did it! Were you expecting that? More surprises to come... This is the longest chapter I've written so far. Please review! Also, your suggestions would be appreciated. I need all the help I can get... Also, I'm kinda disheartened. No reviews of late. I might quit writing if this continues...


	6. Chapter 6

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 6**

Midii sighed as she stood in the pristine graveyard as the sun bore down. She glared at the tombstone and cursed inwardly.

"So you're dead?" she said as she eyed the inscription.

_**Requiescat in Pace**_

**_Alexandra Khushrenada_**

_**Died: April 8 AC 194**_

"I guess they didn't know your birthday," she noted upon seeing that no date of birth was specified, "The files said you were a bastard girl who married rich. How fortunate for you..."

Midii greatly resented Alexandra. Her cousin still pined for Treize Khushrenada despite his death and probably didn't know about the marriage. Then again, Une almost certainly had knowledge of Treize's reputation as a ladies' man and loved him regardless of it. She was even caring for the man's illegitimate daughter, Mariemaia. Midii had met the child and immediately saw the resemblance between the little girl and Treize. They had the same blue eyes and prominent eyebrows though the kid's flaming red hair set her apart from her father. Une's heartbreak, over caring for the child of the one she loved knowing it was the fruit of his passion for another, was apparent. It hurt Midii to see this as well.

Midii sighed and began to make speculations. Alexandra died in AC 194 so she and Treize probably got married before the war.

"This makes no sense," thought Midii, "The priest told me he had presided over the marriage on December 24, AC 195 while on MO-II. How could she have been dead before that?"

A breeze blew by and a chill of foreboding ran down her spine.

"It isn't very nice to meddle in the affairs of others," said a familiar voice.

She turned and met the level gaze of her cousin who seemed torn between tears and rage.

"I was just-"

"Looking at the grave of Mister Treize's wife?" Une finished Midii's sentence for her.

"Well-"

"You're looking at the wrong Alexandra Khushrenada."

"What?"

"There are two Alexandra Khushrenadas. The first one was a bastard girl who enchanted a mighty soldier with her kindness. Mister Treize told me the story of how his parents met. His father was a hapless young general who didn't know what to do with his life. Poor guy decided to kill himself but met a young girl who was admiring the moon when he got to the cliff he was planning to jump from. She was such a happy creature and when she smiled at him, he though it was the most beautiful thing. When she asked him what he was doing, he collapsed crying and she hugged him until sunrise. They got married a year later. Sweet story, right?"

Midii was silent. What was Une talking about?

"She died a little over a year before her son. The Alexandra Khushrenada who happens to be buried here is Mister Treize's mother."

"What do you mean?"

"I know about your search for Mister Treize's wife. It's rather clumsy of you to leave your notes where just about anyone can get to them. You got the wrong data by the way. His mother was the bastard daughter of a mobile suit technician and a poor young seamstress. She was a good woman very much unlike the second Alexandra Khushrenada. You see, Mister Treize's wife had the misfortune of having the same name as his mother. There's also almost no information on her because her family's castle burned down when she was around four. Her father died in the fire and she was orphaned because her mother had died giving birth to her. She was left with a vast fortune which allowed her to attend Lake Victoria Military Academy. Later, she fell in love with her instructor and, after graduation, he became a general and promptly made her a colonel despite having better candidates for the rank. He was guilty of favoritism and his future wife was quite infatuated with him. She killed for him, became what she though he wanted and nearly died in the process. They got married on the natural resource satellite MO-II, two hours before he met his death at the hands of Wufei Chang. She had just awoken from a coma at the time and he wanted to prove his love for her because he couldn't die without showing her how deeply he felt for her. She watched him die that very day. Her maiden name was Lady Alexandra Une, daughter of Lord Ludwig and Lady Caroline Une. Surprised?"

"You're Alexandra Khushrenada?"

"Legally," said Une, "I kept the marriage certificate hidden because I didn't want the inheritance he left me. He had his will changed when we got married and left everything to me. Said he wanted to take care of me after he was gone..."

"I see..."

"Don't mess with matters that don't concern you," said Une, her tone turning harsh, "I know everything now. You bombed the Aquarius using over a hundred tiny prototype mines smuggled in as components installed in eight dummy laptops. Also, the crew of ten you sailed with are all alive and being held captive. One of them escaped and told me everything. A rescue mission is underway. The jig is up, Midii."

"It's not what you think!"

"Is it?" she said crying tears of anger, "I trusted you and you've been in league with the people trying to kill me! I did a lot of bad things when I was in OZ. Awful things! But do I deserve to be betrayed by my last remaining blood relative? Do I?"

"They left me no choice! I didn't know you were their main target!"

"That organization is run by the friends and relatives of the people I trained for a mission long ago," said Une bitterly, "That mission turned out to be a suicide mission. Fifty men and women, many of them in their teens, were sent to fight against an insurgence of rebels armed with three stolen Leos. My soldiers were using an experimental mobile suit called the Neo-Leo. The Neo-Leos failed to activate on the battlefield due to a battery flaw brought about by the magnetic loadstones on the terrain. They were promptly massacred by the rebels. It's my worst crime and OZ's best kept secret..."

"Chief..."

"Just mind your own business from now on. I guess I do deserve this betrayal."

"No, you don't! Let me explain!"

"Why should I, Midii? Why should I believe anything you say?"

"Because it's the truth!" screamed Midii, "Why do you think there were no casualties? I insisted on using weak bombs so no one would die. I didn't want to betray you!"

Une was taken aback. Midii had never raised her voice before.

"Fine," said Une thinking nothing adverse would come of it, "Explain yourself."

"I was living in peace on L-3," she stated with a slight quiver in her voice, "My family was sick so I made money via espionage. Everything was fine until that day when the organization's gunmen broke into our house. They killed my family! They threatened me and told me they'd kill my last remaining blood relative on Earth if I didn't do as they said. That's why I bombed the Aquarius! I didn't want anyone else dying for my sake so I did it! I didn't know you were their target!"

Une was shocked to say the least. So Midii's family had been murdered...

"I'm sorry..." said Une not knowing what else to say.

"They had plans," said Midii as she desperately wiped away the tears that had begun to flow, "They made me bomb the Aquarius to create a budget deficit within the Preventer organization. They intend to kill Relena Darlian, Dorothy Catalonia, Quatre Winner and President Hamilton to cut off all financial aid to the Preventers and put an end to your illustrious career as Chief. They also planned to abduct Alexandra Khushrenada and humiliate you by showing you that the Treize you loved had someone else."

"Well, there's a flaw in that plan since I am Alexandra Khushrenada."

"They planned to kill you after humiliating you," said Midii, "Violently kill you..."

"I see," said Une with a sigh, "So those past three assassination attempts were?"

"False starts," replied Midii, "A lot of people want you dead and some of them were rather gung-ho and trigger happy about it."

"Well, we've got a lot on our hands now. I put Preventers Water and Ice in charge of interrogating the crew member who escaped. We've been told where the captives are to be found and-"

"It's a trap."

"How are you so sure?"

"They either paid or threatened that supposed 'escapee.' It's impossible to escape them. I tried when I was held captive and I've escaped from a ton of high security places but not from the one they held me in."

"Well, this is a problem. I already sent someone to go."

"Who?"

"Trowa."

Midii's blood ran cold, "Just Trowa?

"I thought he was more than capable of helping nine hostages escape and I gave him the option to call back-up. He'll be fine."

"No, he won't!" said Midii in a panicked tone, "They'll kill him! Oh God! I've got to get to him. When is he scheduled to leave?"

"Oh-nine-hundred," replied Une, "It's oh-eight-thirty right now. HQ is within walking distance. We can still catch him if we run fast enough."

Line

So will they make it in time? What's going to happen next and will the wicked organization succeed in its plans? Find out next chapter! Please R&R! I'm begging!


	7. Chapter 7

**Benevolent Hearts **

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 7**

Trowa breathed deep as he awaited the bus that would deliver him to spaceport. He would then board a shuttle and arrive on L-3. Hopefully, Catherine would be there to welcome him and he'd have somewhere to stay for the night before the mission was to commence.

A faint ringing noise sounded. He hurriedly dug into his pocket and fished out his cell phone just as an out-of breath Midii neared him.

"Hello," he said as Midii decided to seek refuge behind a nearby potted plant. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop but the habits of a spy were hard to break.

"Nice to hear from you," he said in an oddly jovial tone.

"Who is he talking to?" wondered Midii.

"Yeah, I'm coming. I don't think I can perform though."

"Perform?" Midii grew even more confused.

"I miss you too, Cathy."

"Cathy? Who was Cathy?" thought Midii with growing bewilderment.

"Love you too. Bye."

Midii felt her heart shatter. Whoever Cathy was, she was more than a friend to Trowa. Breathing deep, she put her feelings aside and walked up to him.

"Hi, Midii," he said as he saw her approaching. It was rather awkward meeting her after she'd run away from him crying.

"Hi," she said in the coolest tone she could muster.

"I'm sorry about what happened on the mission. Heero gave me a long lecture on prejudice and unjust accusations so I-"

"Shut up," she said, "Chief Une told me to tell you your mission on L-3 is cancelled."

She then turned her back on him and ran to her office. She hated him. She hated him for apologizing to her when, in fact, she was guilty of everything he'd accused her of. She hated him for not loving her. It wasn't fair. She had loved him for an eternity yet someone else had captured his heart. She knew that her hate made no sense. They hadn't seen each other in years and it was logical for him to have a girlfriend.

"You're a fool," she told herself, "He never liked you. What made you think he'd wait around for a girl he never cared for or wished to see again?"

Wanting to banish Trowa from her thoughts, she promptly rushed to her filing cabinet and deftly pulled out drawer after drawer of documents. She then began tossing folders all over the place before finally sinking to her knees in tears. Throwing a tantrum was highly immature but she'd always been too mature for her own good anyway.

She cried her eyes out for a good hour. Unshed tears over the death of her family, her crimes and Trowa's apathy poured out of her. She felt like she was being purged of all the sadness in her heart though she highly doubted she had enough tears to rid herself of the eternally flowing spring of sorrow within her.

How had she ended up like this? Her thoughts drifted back to that fateful day she'd committed her travesty...

"_Cargo bay is set to explode," said Midii into her cell phone, "Fifty Polaris mobile dolls confirmed. Fifty mines have been planted. I've also planted mines over various parts of the ship including the engine room." _

"_Good work," replied a male voice, "The crew is nowhere near?"_

"_Affirmative."_

"_Excellent. We welded a weak missile to the ship's hull while it was docked. That thing will definitely sink that ship so get yourself a lifeboat when you're ready to detonate. Your trigger is rigged to ours. When your mines explode, our missile will follow."_

"_Alright," she said, "But you will keep your promise, right? Nobody will die?"_

"_Yes, we promise. This is just our revenge on Une. A blow to her career... You'll be free of us after this. Just do your job. One of the crew works for us. He'll kill you if you fail."_

"_Understood. Just please, don't kill anyone..."_

They had lied to her. No one had died yet but they had kidnapped the crew and had even set a trap. Why was life so cruel? Her family was dead, she was a criminal and the man she loved would never return her affections. With a slight huff, she shed her last few tears.

Upon finishing her piteous crying, she re-alphabetized the documents she had messed up and rushed to the ladies' room in order to fix herself. It was time to face the world again and she had to meet adversity with a brave facade. She washed her face and all seemed well. She was feeling a bit better now.

Carefully, she brushed her hair as she prepared to head out and continue on with work. The peace of mind she had gained, however, was blown apart when she heard a faint sob coming from a nearby cubicle.

"Who's there?" she asked as she approached the cubicle door.

"Leave me alone," said a familiar voice.

"Miss Dorothy Catalonia?"

"Who wants to know?" she replied with a sniffle.

"Midii Une. I'm a new Preventer here."

"Une? You're related to the Chief?"

"Her cousin. Why are you crying?"

The door was opened to reveal a very upset Dorothy. Her long blonde hair was a mess and her eyes were red from crying.

"Quatre pities me. He's treating me like a child! I don't need to be taken care of. I don't need anyone!"

"Alright then..." said Midii as she heaved a sigh, "Could you tell me exactly what's wrong?"

Dorothy sighed and sniffled as she recounted what had happened earlier in the day.

"_Romafeller tradition insists on a Catholic wedding," sighed Dorothy._

"_So what's wrong?" asked Quatre. _

_He was wearing that cute face again. The face that made her want to laugh and stare into his aquamarine eyes as she messed with his soft blonde hair._

"_Aren't you practicing Islam?"_

"_No but my father did," he said, "My mother was a devout Catholic. It was her final wish to have me baptized into her religion."_

"_Your mother?"_

"_I never knew her because she died a few hours after I was born from the test tube method. From what I hear, she was a good woman. They say my sister Iria looks like her. Her name was Quaterine."_

"_I'm sorry I asked."_

"_Don't be," he smiled, "You know, I'm kind of happy she gave me her religion. My sisters always told me how sad my mother got because my father had so many other wives. I guess she made me Catholic so I wouldn't be a playboy."_

"_Are you sure you want to marry me?" asked Dorothy, "I mean, you'll be bound to me both by God and by law."_

_She was beginning to have her doubts about the marriage. Exactly what was she to him?_

"_Positive," he said, "I promised myself I would never marry someone I didn't like. Even if this is just a merger to you, I want you to know that I am fond of you. I really want to take care of you. I mean after all you've been through-"_

_She was heartbroken by his reply. He was just like her father. Someone who took care of her because she seemed like such a helpless brat... _

"_Is that all I am to you?" interrupted Dorothy, her tone turning icy "Someone who needs to be taken care of? I don't want your sympathy!"_

"_That's not what I- Dorothy! Don't go!"_

"Then I ran away from him and went on to all my business meetings. I finally cracked when I got here. I just couldn't take it anymore so I ran in here and bawled like a madwoman."

"You like him, don't you?" said Midii.

"I don't know," replied Dorothy in a frustrated tone.

"It's kind of disappointing to find out that he doesn't feel the way you want him to feel about you, right?"

"How would you know?"

"Because I like someone too. Actually, I love someone. But the feeling isn't mutual."

"Quatre said he was fond of me. He wants to take care of me. We never mentioned love or like. We just have an understanding."

"He must care about you to some degree if he's willing to marry you."

"It's just a merger between our organizations. There's no emotion involved. He needs an heir and New Romafeller needs money."

Midii sighed, "I hate to burst your bubble but I've read about that merger. Quatre Winner could have made that deal with a ton of other companies and taken his pick of pretty young heiresses. Instead, he picked New Romafeller which is riddled with financial problems. Now why would a sensible businessman with a vast empire bother to aid a foundation that's virtually in the toilet?"

"Romafeller has been around since pre-colony times. It has a lot of influence."

"But why would he pick you to bear his heir? He could have easily had another merger and married another heiress. He could have just aided Romafeller financially by being an investor. Why does he want to merge Romafeller and Winner? Why does he want to marry you?"

"I- I don't know," replied Dorothy as if she was just beginning to comprehend the magnitude of the deal she had made, "He spoils me rotten with gifts. He treats me like a child that needs constant tending to. But I don't want to be spoiled or tended to. I want to be-"

"To be?"

"To be loved," she finally admitted, "He doesn't understand. I don't want the money or the gifts or his kindness and sympathy. I just want him to love me! I've been alone all my life and I'm just so tired of being treated like an inhuman princess who needs pampering. But what can I do? This is just a merger. There's no need to complicate things with such ridiculous sentiments, right?"

"Sentiment and affection are necessary," said Midii, "It's what makes us human. Have you told him how you feel?"

At that moment, Quatre burst into the ladies' room.

"I know this is wrong," he said as he covered his eyes out of respect to anyone he might glimpse in a compromising situation, "But my fiancé is missing. Has anyone in here seen her?"

Dorothy exited the cubicle and stood before him, "I'm right here."

He reluctantly removed his hands from his eyes, "Dorothy?"

"Yes."

"Look at you," he said as he approached her and gently caressed her face, "You've been crying."

"I never would have guessed," she said sarcastically.

Midii cleared her throat, "I think you two should talk in private."

Dorothy nodded and led Quatre out the door.

Midii sighed, "What a strange day this has been..."

And it got stranger as two loud bangs emanated from outside followed by two dull thuds and several screams.

Midii rushed out to see both Dorothy and Quatre lying face-down on the floor. A female preventer pushed past her and rushed to the couple's aid.

"Wufei!" cried the female preventer, "Help me flip them over!"

A young Chinese man hurriedly shoved his way through the gathering crowd. He knelt next to the female preventer and helped her flip the couple onto their backs.

"Sally," he said, "These aren't the bulletproof vests we gave them."

The female preventer looked disheartened. Quatre and Dorothy were breathing and semi-conscious but they had been hurt. Both had been shot in the abdomen. It wasn't exactly deadly but it was bad nonetheless.

"We've caught the gunman," said one preventer as he and a couple of others dragged the fugitive forward.

"Captain," gasped Midii, "That's the Aquarius' captain!"

"That's right!" he yelled, "Right now, your fellow preventers are on their way to rescue a dead crew. We executed my other nine ship mates! The info I gave you fools leads to a trap! A firing squad!"

The captain laughed maniacally and escaped from the grip of the preventers' holding him. He lunged at Midii and put both hands around her throat. He was strangling her...

"But don't blame me! Blame this bitch! It's all her fault! She bombed it!"

Midii tried to breathe as tears began to pour from her eyes while horrified thoughts reeled through her head. Had she heard right? The Captain's other nine crew mates had been executed. Nine people were dead because of her. She gagged as her vision began to blur.

Then suddenly, she heard the sound of a gunshot. The hands around her neck loosened as the captain fell to the ground. He was dead.

She looked to see who her savior was and met Trowa's level gaze.

"Chief Une told me everything," he said, "I think I understand you better now that I know the whole story. Are you hurt?"

She was struck dumb for a second and could only shake her head in response before finally murmuring, "I'm fine. Thanks."

Trowa acknowledged her gratitude then knelt down beside Quatre, "Are you going to be alright?" he asked.

"I'll live," said Quatre weakly, "But Dorothy- I made her cry again. I always seem to make her cry."

Dorothy, who lay next to him, reached out to touch his hand as tears of pain streamed from her eyes, "I like to cry," she said as she forced on a smile for him, "It makes me feel human..."

* * *

There you go. A little 4+D, 3+M and 3+C... By the way, I believe 3+C is incest so you know I'm not serious about that 'I love you.' You'll see what I mean in future chapters... Please R&R!

**Note:** Quatre thinks he's a test tube baby. His dad never told him Quaterine died giving birth to him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Benevolent Hearts **

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 8**

The two preventers who had rushed to Dorothy and Quatre's aid stood next to Midii as they watched the ambulance depart.

"I know that these aren't exactly the best circumstances for our meeting each other but we'd like to get to know you," said the female preventer who had turned to Midii, "I'm Dr. Sally Po, codename Water."

Sally had a cheerful, almost motherly, look about her. The bit of lipstick she had on lent her some maturity since she wore her dark blonde hair in juvenile pigtail braids. Her eyes were big, blue and comforting and her smile seemed to offer solace.

Reluctantly, Midii spoke, "I'm Midii Une."

"The Chief told us a lot about you," said the male preventer beside Sally, "So did Captain Vincent. Although I find it hard to believe that a girl like you could sink the Aquarius."

"Wufei!" scolded Sally, "I'm sorry. He doesn't know how to hold his tongue. His name is Wufei Chang, codename Ice. We were in charge of interrogating Captain Vincent, the guy who just tried to strangle you."

"I can introduce myself, Sally."

Midii could tell that Wufei wasn't exactly friendly. His brows were furrowed in a frown. His black hair was neatly gelled down and tied back into a ponytail for convenience and his obsidian eyes seemed to carry an unparalleled seriousness uncommon for one so young.

Sally ignored him and smiled at her, "We should be heading down to the basement now. Trowa probably went on ahead. We need to piece together how all this happened."

She then took a small notebook from her pocket and hastily scribbled something before tearing out the page and handing it to Midii and whispering, "This is the pass code to the hidden meeting hall. Memorize it then destroy it. Speak to the ear and tell it your code name. We'll see you there in ten minutes."

Sally and Wufei departed for the basement. Midii eyed the paper Sally had handed her. It read:

**_QaZEdCTGBujmoLL_**

Midii was puzzled. How was she supposed to remember this random code in ten minutes? She hardly had superb memory and things like this proved difficult to recall later on. There must be a pattern to it that would make it easier to memorize. It took a trip to her office and a quick running of her code breaker program before she realized that the answer was staring her right in the face as she typed.

A common keyboard read:

_Q W E R T Y U I O P_

_A S D F G H J K L_

_Z X C V B N M_

The code had been derived this way:

**Q** _W _**E**_R_ **T**_ Y _**U**_ I _**O**_ P_

**A**_ S _**D**_ F _**G**_H _**J**_K _**L**

**Z**_ X _**C**_ V _**B**_ N _**M**

Q, A and Z were the first three letters in the leftmost diagonal column. The second column was skipped to be followed by E, D and C. Then the fourth column was skipped to get T, G and B in the fifth column. The sixth column was skipped as well to get U, J and M in the seventh column. Then the eight column containing only two letters was skipped to get the last two letters in the ninth column which was O and L. L was then doubled to form the final code. An average person would have found a code like this difficult to break since it seemingly had no sense to it. She also found that the mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters added to the mix would have made it almost impossible to crack. But there was a pattern to that too.

_QaZ- _uppercase- lowercase- uppercase

_EdC- _uppercase- lowercase- uppercase

_TGB- _uppercase- uppercase- uppercase

_Ujm- _uppercase- lowercase- lowercase

_oLL-_ lowercase- uppercase- uppercase

It was easy enough to memorize when viewed in this light. Midii then drew a lighter from her pocket and burned the pass code. It was standard procedure for a spy so the enemy wouldn't have an advantage.

She then proceeded to the Preventer building's basement. The area was full of old equipment and had the look of an old store room. She eyed her surroundings. She knew nothing was what it seemed. It was then that an old keyboard caught her eye.

The keyboard was lying on a crate and, strangely enough, its electrical cord seemed to disappear into the wall. Also, compared to everything else, it was fairly dustless. Not daring to believe she'd found the point of entry so easily, she pressed the caps lock key. Sure enough, a tiny green light on the keyboard lit up signifying that the caps lock was on. She smiled and turned off the caps lock before carefully typing the code in, making sure to use the correct mix of uppercase and lowercase.

The wall behind her opened to reveal an elevator. She approached it and noticed a small microphone-like device on the spot where the buttons for descend and ascend should have been. She recalled Sally saying, 'Speak to the ear and tell it your code name.' The device must be the ear.

"Breeze," she said.

Sounds of the elevator activating were heard as the doors opened.

"Voice prompt accepted," said a mechanized voice as she entered.

The elevator descended and Midii was amazed by what she saw when the doors finally opened again.

A richly carpeted room lit by chandelier greeted her. A long table made of fine wood was the room's main feature and several prominent preventers and politicians were seated there. Lady Une, who sat at the head of the table, stood up and greeted Midii.

"So nice of you to join us," she said, "Welcome to Oblivion Hall. Please sit down."

Oblivion Hall. She'd heard of it but had never actually seen it before. It was said that this was where OZ had planned the finer points of Operation Daybreak. It was the holy grail to a spy since they'd all heard that it was currently being utilized by the ESUN whenever they talked of government matters they'd rather keep hidden from the public. She had never suspected that they'd hide it beneath the Preventer building.

She sat herself down on the last vacant chair and found herself seated between Trowa and Duo. All were silent. Midii eyed everyone at the table. A face she recognized from television was that of Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian who was noticeably fidgeting and shaken by what had happened to Dorothy and Quatre. Facing Une and sitting at the other end of the table was President Hamilton, who, for an elderly man with graying hair, still seemed composed. Aside from Duo and Trowa, she recognized a few other preventer faces in the form of Heero, Hilde, Wufei and Sally.

Une cleared her throat, "Thank you all for coming here today on such short notice. Current circumstances are rather dire and I thought it necessary to call this assembly. As of today, the organization bent on destroying the Preventers has hit two out of its five intended targets. Miss Catalonia and Mister Winner are currently under heavy protection and were only slightly injured so there is no longer any need to fear for their lives."

Quiet pervaded before Relena finally spoke up, "And who are the three remaining targets?"

"President Hamilton and I are targets," replied Une, "I regret to inform you of this but, you are a target too, Miss Relena."

"I see," she sighed.

"New security measures must be employed," stated Heero.

"Agreed," said Une, "I'm putting you in charge of Vice Foreign Minister Darlian's security full-time. Is that alright?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"Water and Ice," she said addressing Sally and Wufei, "What happened? How did Captain Vincent escape the interrogation room?"

"We are currently investigating that matter," replied Sally, "He was obviously mentally ill. The attack on Miss Catalonia and Mister Winner seemed premeditated."

"How so?"

"Miss Catalonia and Miss Dorothy weren't wearing the bulletproof vests we issued them but rather an inferior brand," said Wufei, "Someone switched the vests. We fear that it was due to a lapse of judgment on our part. We left the vests in the interrogation room while on break. Captain Vincent could have had a crony break in to switch the vests while he escaped."

"I see. I'll view the security footage and confirm if your suspicions are valid. What else can you tell me?"

"When we got back from break, Captain Vincent was gone and the vests had already been taken to Miss Catalonia and Mister Winner," stated Sally, "We didn't know they'd been switched and assumed that our clients were protected. We began searching for Captain Vincent and managed to restrain him before he could fatally shoot our clients."

"And who neutralized Captain Vincent?"

"It was me, ma'am," said Trowa, "He was strangling Breeze and I thought it necessary to kill him."

"That was rash."

"He had a bomb surgically imbedded in his chest, ma'am. The medical team who declared him dead found a trigger in his pocket. He could have detonated himself at any time. Our bomb squad is currently trying to defuse the aforementioned explosive."

"Really? How do you know this?"

"I called Catherine to tell her I couldn't come to L-3 because my mission was cancelled. We chatted and I told her about Captain Vincent..."

"_Hello, Cathy. I'm sorry but I won't be coming to L-3 after all."_

"_Why not?" said Catherine in a disappointed tone._

"_My mission's cancelled," he said, "I think it has something to do with Captain Vincent. Sally and Wufei said he just escaped from the interrogation room."_

"_Captain Samuel Vincent?"_

"_Yeah, how do you know?"_

"_That man's a lunatic. I heard he's working for this anonymous organization now."_

"_Impossible. He's the captain of the Aquarius."_

"_The Preventer ship that got sunk? He must have had something to do with that too."_

"_You think?"_

"_Yeah, I hear he has a bomb in his chest. They say he's insane."_

"_In his chest?"_

"_It was put there surgically by his employers. He gets a ton of cash every month for keeping it there. He's a hired suicide bomber..."_

"And that's how I knew," said Trowa.

"That was risky shot you took," said Une, "The bullet you fired could have set the bomb off."

"I shot him in the head, ma'am."

"Still, you could have missed. You could have hit someone. There was a crowd gathering around the scene, wasn't there?"

"I apologize, I wasn't thinking."

"Did you find out about this bomb before or after I told you the truth about Breeze?"

"Before," replied Trowa, "It kind of slipped my mind to tell you this earlier."

"Understandable," said Une, "Now Breeze, you and Zephyr will be working together again. I sincerely hope this will turn out better than last time."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Trowa and Midii together.

"Ember and Flame," said Une addressing Duo and Hilde, "I'm putting you in charge of President Hamilton."

"Yes, ma'am," replied the two.

"Mister President," said Une turning to Hamilton, "Are you alright with this?"

"Yes," he replied, "I'm going to L-4 to make a speech on Tuesday so I assume they'll be accompanying me."

"They will," replied Une before finally standing up, "This meeting is adjourned."

Everyone exited the hall one at a time. Midii found herself standing next to Trowa in line for the elevator.

"So we're partners again," she said.

"I guess so," he replied.

"I apologize for my outburst earlier when I told you about your mission cancellation."

"It's alright."

"So my cousin told you everything?"

"Pretty much."

"So you know I'm guilty."

"You had good reasons."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"But nine people are dead because of me," said Midii regretfully as she remembered the maniacal captain's words.

"_...We executed my other nine ship mates!" _

"No," said Trowa, "Nine people are dead because of Captain Vincent. He sold his crew mates out because he was insane. Do you think a man who puts a bomb in his chest could have lived in this world without causing others pain?"

"Probably not."

Midii recalled something from the phone conversation she had had while planting mines.

"..._You'll be free of us after this. Just do your job. One of the crew works for us. He'll kill you if you fail."_

Captain Vincent must have been the organization's insider crew member.

"How do you know so much, anyway?" she asked.

"I used to work at a circus and you tend to hear things as you move from colony to colony. It's amazing what the people know. Catherine works there. She tells me everything she hears. All the latest rumors..."

"Catherine? Who is she?"

"She's a friend of mine," he replied, "I have no family and she's like the big sister I never had."

"Oh... I thought-"

"Thought what?"

"Nothing..."

"We're partners. Tell me."

"I heard you say you loved her when you were talking to her on your cell phone," she blushed.

"Oh, that..." he said, "I told you. She's like a big sister to me. I do love her but only as a sibling. She kept me from killing myself once. Gave me one hell of a bitch slap..."

"I see..."

"Were you jealous of her or something?"

"Of course not," said Midii as her blush deepened, "Why would I? I'd have to like you in order to be jealous and face it, my first impression of you isn't exactly a good one."

Midii then rushed into the elevator and left before he could reply.

Trowa smiled to himself. It was amusing to think that Midii could be jealous of Cathy. Maybe she still had feelings for him despite how he'd wronged her. Looking back, he now understood why she'd betrayed him when they were kids. Actually, the deaths of his comrades still hurt him but he understood Midii now. She could have very well left him to die that day but opted to save him. In his rage, he only saw the wrong she'd done and overlooked that she'd saved his life. He had a lot of making up to do. After all, if she liked him, it would only be fair to reciprocate.

Midii exited the elevator and hurriedly rushed to her office. His big sister! She'd been jealous of someone he considered a big sister!

"You're messed up," she told herself, "Really messed up! God knows, what he thinks of you now. He probably thinks you're a lovesick idiot who's obsessed with him!"

"He doesn't," said a familiar male voice.

"Trowa!" she yelped in surprise as she turned to see him, "How'd you get here so fast?"

"There's more than one way out of Oblivion Hall."

"I- Um, I was just-"

"It's quite unlike a spy to think out loud."

"I'm not a spy anymore."

He drew a brown envelope from his jacket and extended it out to her, "Our mission details," he said, "We're to aid Heero in guarding Miss Relena."

She reached for the envelope but not before he'd grabbed her wrist and pulled her close.

"You're not the only lovesick idiot in this room," he breathed against her lips before releasing her.

She watched him walk out the door before heaving a deep sigh. Clutching the envelope he'd left in her grasp, she tried desperately tried to comprehend if what had just happened was real or whether she'd completely lost her mind.

* * *

So how's this? Finally, I've managed to work in some high-quality 3xM romance! Is it high-quality in your opinion? Please R&R! 


	9. Chapter 9

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 9**

The days seemed to pass with no trace of malevolence brewing. Despite this, the Preventers were not the kind of people to let their guard down. They knew a storm of trouble was bound to materialize in time. Being lulled into a false sense of security was the biggest mistake one could make and they were not about to fall prey to such an error.

Sure enough, five days after the attack on Dorothy and Quatre, a plague of problems hit the Preventers with hurricane force.

It all began with a phone call to the Preventer Chief.

"_Hello," said Une as she took the phone from her secretary, "Preventer Chief Une, speaking."_

"_Yeah, um," said a male voice, "This is Flame. We've got a problem."_

"_Duo? What is it?"_

"_Hamilton had a heart attack. Vice President Lorelei Fortunato is in a panic. She doesn't know what to do."_

"_How is he?"_

"_He's dead. Had the attack during his speech here on L-4."_

"_Any foul play?"_

"_Nope. Medical team said the guy had a weak heart. He was due for a transplant early next year but it's too late now."_

"_I see. How long has he been dead?"_

"_Eight hours. The media's having a field day. What're we supposed to do?"_

"_Protect Fortunato. She'll probably take over for Hamilton." _

"_Alright then. We'll take care of her. Bye."_

Later that night, the new ESUN president, Lorelei Fortunato was sworn in. Unlike Hamilton, she was new to politics being only twenty-eight and having limited experience as a former colony diplomat. Still, she was a friendly and affable young lady with an air akin to Relena's. She spoke to the Une the next day and voiced her concerns about the government's instability and possible uprisings.

Lorelei was a young brunette with startling brown eyes. Twenty-one year old Une was younger than this girl but it was hard to respect someone who was visibly quivering before you.

"President Fortunato," said Une with a sigh, "Please sit down. What are the matters you wish to discuss with me?"

"Chief Une I-," said Fortunato as she sat, "It's so nice to finally meet you. My younger brother Colin was in one of your OZ platoons. He still raves about your excellent tactics. Actually, I was expecting you to be older than me. I never expected you to be so young."

"It's alright ma'am."

"Ma'am? Oh, please don't address me that way. Call me Lorelei. I hate formalities."

"Very well, Miss Lorelei," said Une, "Now what did you want to tell me?"

"About President Hamilton," said Lorelei as she finally found her bearings and took on a more serious tone, "He had the people's support. Being so much younger than him, people deem me incapable. That is hardly the case. I had excellent schooling and everything. Currently, the people doubt me. I wanted to ask a fellow leader how to win the heart of the masses."

"You shouldn't be talking to me, Miss Lorelei. I was an unpopular colonel in OZ. Brash and taciturn but with occasionally good plans... My example is one you shouldn't follow."

"But you're good. You run this organization, don't you?"

"But I don't cater to the people. I'm not well-liked. I'm efficient but a lot of people hate me for it."

"I see..."

"Miss Lorelei, you shouldn't care if the people like you or not as long as you're doing the right thing. Also, if you make a mistake own up to it. That's what I do."

"I just want to be a good president..."

"And you will be. Just do what would be good for the people and don't do anything that would put the ESUN in peril. Your advisers will help you."

"Well, thank you, Chief Une," she said as she rose from her seat, "I'll keep that in mind."

After that conversation, President Fortunato immediately put her power to good use by increasing funding to academic programs for the less-fortunate. It was a bold move and rather unexpected but it earned the people's respect to know that the new sovereign loved her people.

Another week passed and serenity returned. Despite this, the threat against the Preventer organization was still fresh in everyone's minds and nobody wanted to be caught unawares.

Trouble emerged once more when Dorothy and Quatre, who were due to leave the hospital the next day, refused to rouse from their beds. Astonishingly enough, they had slipped into comas. This baffled the doctors since the two had been conscious throughout most of their hospital stay. The Preventer staff on duty was forced to conclude that foul play was involved and someone had slipped the couple some coma-inducing drugs.

Hoping to protect Dorothy and Quatre from being killed off, Une had asked Sally to get her most trustworthy colleagues in the medical field to care for the pair. Sally called upon some of the medical personnel she'd met while serving as a military doctor for the Alliance. All access to the couple was restricted to the doctors she put on duty. Security was beefed up and no one was going to get into that hospital room without the Preventers' knowledge.

This was quite a blow to the Preventers but the worst was yet to come...

Heero was busy guarding Relena while Trowa and Midii were ready to provide back-up should worse come to worst. Relena was visiting her adoptive mother Mrs. Darlian and had insisted that Heero leave as to avoid alienating the woman. Heero reluctantly obliged but, in turn, insisted that Midii and Trowa inspect the place first. After that, he immediately busied himself with setting up a surveillance system within his office at HQ to observe her. He ran into a lot of technical difficulties during set-up and was still trying to work out the kinks well past midnight. Then the unthinkable occurred when he received a call at two in the morning.

"Heero," said Relena in a whisper, "There are intruders in the house. They've tied up Mother. They're looking for me!"

"Calm down Relena. Where are you?"

"Hiding under my bed. Save me!"

"Ok, stay on the phone I'll-"

A blood curdling scream issued from the phone as sounds of stumbling and a struggle were heard, "No! Heero, help! They're dragging me out from under! Heero! Hee-"

A gunshot silenced her as her voice was replaced by a male one, "Relena Darlian is dead. We're taking her body to make a statement. It's too late bodyguard boy."

Heero dropped the phone in shock and ran to his car. There was no way...

He drove to the Darlian Manor as his mind sank into a haze of horror. Was she really dead? She couldn't be. He had sworn to protect her, hadn't he? It just wasn't possible...

Somehow, he had managed to call Trowa and Midii to alert them of the incident.

"This is Zephyr and Breeze," said Trowa, "What is it?"

"Dark," he blurted and hung up.

Trowa and Midii were gripped with terror upon hearing that one word on their speakerphone.

Midii gasped, "Isn't 'dark' the code word for-"

"Possible assassination," said Trowa, "We've got to get to Relena."

They rushed out of the office and arrived at Darlian Manor shortly after Heero. The three of them entered the residence together. Bound and gagged on the floor was Mrs. Darlian. They hurriedly untied her as she cried out and wept.

"They gassed the security staff and shot Relena! They bagged her and took her with them. My daughter!"

She was inconsolable and continued crying as Trowa and Midii did all they could to comfort her. Heero was still in a state of disbelief and walked up to Relena's room. He fell to his knees at the sight. The white carpet was soaked crimson with blood and the smell of death engulfed him. He fell to his knees and grew stoic. This was a nightmare. His shock and grief were beyond tears.

Trowa and Midii entered the room and saw the look of anguish on their colleague's face. He had been kneeling there for a good half hour, unmoving and silent.

"Get up, Heero," said Trowa, "We have to avenge her."

Heero didn't respond but continued to kneel there with that same glazed look on his face. He had lost all logic, all ability to think. Midii called for back-up and it took five people to pry him away from the room. He was definitely in shock and was rushed to the infirmary and given a sedative.

* * *

So is Relena really dead? Find out next chapter! Please read and review! 


	10. Chapter 10

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 10**

That night a crime scene was set-up. Findings from the investigators were reported upon completion the next day. Trowa and Midii rushed to the scene first thing in the morning.

"I can't believe Miss Relena's dead..." said Midii.

"She isn't," said Trowa, "The report just came back from the Interrogation Department. Mrs. Darlian said she heard one shot go off. Just one shot. There's a bullet hole in the ceiling. Miss Relena wasn't hit."

Midii looked to the ceiling and immediately noticed what Trowa was talking about. That bullet hole definitely wasn't there when they first visited to survey the house.

"But all the blood..."

"Not human," said Trowa, "Findings came back from the lab. That's pig's blood. Besides, it looks like it was splashed on the floor. A gun shot would have created some blood spatter. I can't believe Heero didn't think of that."

"He was traumatized. So what exactly happened anyway?"

"Heero bugged this room," said Trowa, "Let's see what his camera picked up."

"But his surveillance system failed. I checked it a few hours ago back at HQ."

"There's one camera he forgot about."

Trowa grabbed a teddy bear from the bed.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"This is Heero's camera."

"Huh?"

"Relena's always been a sentimental creature. Heero had a great desire to protect her. He gave her this bear before they parted ways so he could watch over her. She never knew about the camera. He never thought they'd meet again. He must have forgotten about this due to last night."

"How do you know about this?"

"I designed the camera for him. It records twelve hours of high quality video data, runs on solar and heat energy and automatically deletes an hour of footage every time the data disc reaches close to full. The bear's eyes are the lenses and the sound recording equipment is in its ears. It wirelessly links to any laptop within a twenty mile radius via a private internet server formerly utilized by the Gundam scientists."

"Smart..."

"Hopefully, the attack on Relena was recorded."

He took his laptop out of his carrying case and booted it. Midii observed him as he typed his password.

"Excellent password," she commented, "But your slow typing skills betray you."

"Really now? Then what's my password?"

"It's 'I hate paperwork' followed by an ampersand and a comma."

"Ampersand?"

"The symbol for 'and,'" she said pointing to the '&' symbol.

"So that's what it's called."

"I never thought you had a sense of humor."

"I keep it to myself."

"You've known Heero for quite awhile, haven't you?"

"You could say that. He was pitiful, sewing this bear by hand and adding camera components like a lovesick idiot..."

"Aren't we lovesick idiots too?"

"Point taken," he said as he recalled the incident in Midii's office, "Let's view this video, shall we?"

Trowa punched in commands to access the server. The laptop screen read "Connecting..."

A prompt screen then appeared requesting a password.

"Damn you, Heero," cursed Trowa, "He added a password. We need it to access the wireless server. How are we going to crack this? That video will delete itself in a matter of hours."

"Let me try," said Midii.

Carefully, she punched in 'Relena' and clicked on ok.

The screen's message changed to 'Password accepted.'

"How did you know?" asked Trowa.

"I like to watch people type," she said, "That was the password to his laptop. I saw him use it when I asked to copy some files for this mission."

"But it's so obvious. So unlike him..."

"Exactly why people would never be able to guess."

"But his girlfriend's name? Plus, it's stupid use the same password on more than one thing."

"I agree but I think it's sweet that he's using her name."

Trowa chose not to reply to her comment as the list of recorded hours showed on the screen.

**20:00**

**21:00**

**22:00**

**23:00**

**00:00**

**01:00**

**02:00**

**03:00**

**04:00**

**05:00**

**06:00**

**07:00**

"The time now is 07:34 hours," said Trowa, "The attack occurred around 01:00 to 02:00."

"Then click away," said Midii.

He clicked on **01:00**. There was silence and the camera's night vision capabilities allowed them to stare right into Relena's sleeping face.

"I guess she keeps it with her to sleep," said Midii, "How quaint..."

A good forty-eight minutes were spent watching Relena sleep until a loud noise was heard. Relena opened her eyes and rushed out the bedroom. Two minutes later, she screamed and ran back in with her cell phone. Trowa and Midii watched as Relena hid under the bed.

The video ended there and Trowa proceeded to click on **02:00**.

Faint whispers could be heard. She was calling someone, probably Heero. Two burly men walked into the room and grabbed her from under the bed.

She screamed into her cell phone, "No! Heero, help! They're dragging me out from under! Heero! Hee-"

She was cut off when one of the men injected something into her shoulder while the other shot at the ceiling to scare her into shutting up.

The man who had injected her grabbed the phone as Relena fell unconscious, "Relena Darlian is dead. We're taking her body to make a statement. It's too late bodyguard boy," he said before tossing the phone to the floor.

The man who had shot the ceiling shoved Relena into a body bag they'd brought while his partner-in-crime took what looked like bags of blood from his jacket and unceremoniously spilled the red stuff onto the white carpet.

Together they carried the body and left the room. Eerie silence permeated the empty room and that hour's footage ended there.

Trowa copied the two videos into his laptop before disconnecting from the server. Relena Darlian was alive and only they knew what had truly occurred.

Regretfully, the organization working against Une had contacted her earlier that day and sent her a live video feed of an unconscious Relena. They told her Relena would be released if she would surrender herself to them. She agreed and let herself be abducted in the graveyard near Preventer HQ. But before that, she also left a tell-tale letter beside her adopted daughter's sleeping form.

_Dear Mariemaia,_

_I'm going to try to save Miss Relena. I may not come back so please behave for your Aunt Midii. Be a good girl. I will do all I can to come back but if I can't, go to the library and take out my copy of Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice.' You'll find a gift from your father in there._

_Much love,_

_Lady Une_

* * *

So what is Treize's gift? Will Une survive trying to save Relena? Will Heero find out that Relena's alive? Find out next chapter! Please review me! I'm not sure if I presented the crime scene well... Must watch more CSI! Next chapter is the last one! At least I hope so... 


	11. Chapter 11

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 11**

Une awoke on the cool stone floor of a barren grey room. Above her dangled a single fluorescent lamp which swung like a pendulum. Where was she? The last thing she recalled doing was standing in the graveyard, being grabbed from behind and having her mouth muffled with a towel soaked in a strange liquid which knocked her out with its fumes.

"Chloroform," she though to herself.

She felt like all strength had deserted her. She hardly had any desire to move. She tilted her head to the side slightly and noticed a motionless nightgown-clad figure slumped a few feet away from her. That honey blonde hair was unmistakable. It was Relena Darlian.

Before she knew it, the pitter-patter of footsteps sounded as the door before her swung ajar.

"You're awake," said a distinctly male voice.

She looked up and stared straight into the piercing hazel eyes of her captor.

"What do you want from me?" she said weakly.

"I never thought Lori would be president," he said casually, "We just wanted revenge. To ruin the ESUN, to ruin Relena Peacecraft, to ruin YOU..."

Une was confused and it showed on her face.

"Big sis has wanted that job for as long as I can remember," he continued, "I won't ruin her administration. She'll need at least one of you to stay afloat."

"Who are you?" Une finally managed to say.

"You don't remember, Colonel? I'm Cadet Colin Fortunato, one of your ardent admirers back in OZ."

"President Lorelei Fortunato's brother?"

"The one and only. I don't want to do this but I've got to kill one of you. The other goes free. Since you woke up first, choose. Your life or Relena Darlian's?"

Une didn't even think twice, "Spare Miss Relena. Let her go and you can do anything you want with me."

"How noble. So you have a death wish? What about your little girl?"

"Don't you dare hurt Mariemaia!"

"I won't. But to throw your life away for this pacifist idiot... I expected more spunk. Maybe even an attempt to escape. Besides, how will your kid feel about her mommy being murdered?"

"She'll be fine," said Une with fortitude, "I made sure of that."

"Fine then," said Colin as he took a clear bottle from his coat and tossed it to her. It was full of a strange clear liquid.

"What's this?" said Une as she looked over it.

"An easy way to die. I want to see you drink it. After that, you can take Relena Darlian out of here."

"Huh?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you? It's poison, a concentrated form of barbiturate. You'll have about an hour to live after you ingest that. Now drink!"

Feeling weak, she unscrewed the cap of the bottle and gulped the contents. He then tossed her a cell phone.

"Call your agents if you want. Our revenge on you is complete. You can even tell them it was me. Of course, no one would believe the President's brother would be capable of such a thing. It'll look like a suicide done in a fit of insanity and delusion. The perfect murder..."

He laughed and proceeded to walk out the door as she grabbed the phone and dialed. It was Midii who picked up the call.

"Help me," said Une, "I've found Miss Relena. I'm dying! Please trace this call!"

"Chief? Oh my God! Of course!"

Une heard a loud beep which confirmed that Midii had begun tracing the call.

"We've found you," said Midii, "Hang in there!"

Une smiled bitterly as shadows began to play along her line of vision. Things were beginning to blur and she sensed a heavy feeling coming over her. Her eyes began to close but she desperately fought for consciousness. A familiar voice whispered in her ear.

"_Let's go," he said, "Don't you want to be with me again?"_

_She closed her eyes and saw him there. As regal as he was on the day he died and clad in his blue uniform. Just as she remembered him..._

"_Mister Treize?"_

_He nodded and extended his hand to her. She reached out to him but found that he was just out of her grasp..._

Relena awakened just as Midii and Trowa burst through the door.

"Are you alright?" Trowa asked Relena as Midii rushed to Une's side.

"Chief!" said Midii as she desperately shook Une's delirious form, "Wake up!"

Une's eyes were shut but she clung to life. Her pulse was weak and her breathing shallow...

"Please wake up! What will we do without you? Lady Alexandra! Wake up!"

Even the sound of her real name couldn't wrestle her from the grip of death. Slowly but surely, her breathing ceased.

_Treize finally grabbed Une's hand and helped her to her feet._

"_I've missed you," she sobbed into his coat as they observed the reactions of the living. Midii was still desperately trying to shake Une's dead body awake._

_He smiled, "Til' death do us part, remember? I had to go. But we're together now and that's that. I can finally be your husband and you, my wife."_

_And so they faded into the darkness. Shadows of an unfulfilled marriage in life consummated in death..._

"She's gone. Midii, she's gone," said Trowa as he put a hand on her shoulder. He knew death when he saw it. He'd seen it so many times before.

"No!" wept Midii, refusing to believe him "We can still save her! Call an ambulance! Call someone!"

In a last act of desperation, Midii attempted CPR but it was futile. Not one breath, not one heartbeat remained within Une. She was gone for good.

* * *

Mariemaia made her bed and found her mother's letter neatly tucked beneath her pillow. She read it immediately and was overcome with curiosity. Where was Lady Une?

Like a typical little girl, she was unable to resist the possibility of receiving a gift. Especially one from the enigmatic father she had never known...

Unfortunately, the phone chose to ring and she hurriedly answered it.

"Hello?"

"This is Midii Une," said the voice, "Mariemaia?"

"Yes?"

"I need you to take this bit of news calmly," said Midii in a shaky tone that was hardly an example of calm, "It's about Lady Une..."

"What is it?" asked Mariemaia as trepidation bubbled up inside of her, "Is something wrong?"

"She passed away. She was poisoned-"

Mariemaia slammed the phone down onto its base, "You're lying!"

Remembering Une's instructions from the letter and her father's gift, she rushed to the library and grabbed Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice from the shelf.

"She must be faking her death," thought Mariemaia, "That's it. She's probably written me a letter to say where she's hiding. Maybe even inserted a bauble from my father within the pages..."

Upon opening the book, she read a bit of text Une had apparently highlighted:

_It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife._

She then noticed a thin slip of paper within the book. Another letter?

_Dear Mariemaia,_

_If you are reading this, something unfortunate has happened to me. Still, I would like to take care of you. Your father's gift is yours at the hour of my death. I have instructed my lawyers to reveal his last will and testament to the public so that no one else can claim what is yours. What was mine... I loved your father. He was my husband. He left everything to me and so I, in turn, leave everything to you. My will gives you everything he gave me. And so I leave you now in the capable hands of my cousin, Midii. I have tasked her to adopt you and to marry so that you may have a family. Please be a good girl._

_Much love,_

_Lady Une_

* * *

The funeral was a sordid affair. There was much crying especially from Mariemaia. There was also much talk about the epitaph. Une had chosen it for herself just in case she was taken down in the line of duty.

_Not everyone loved me_

_But, secretly, I loved everyone..._

Her sentiments were felt though many of the funeral guests were torn. Did she kill herself or was she poisoned? The coroner had said that Une had had a history of mental illness and suicide was not out of the question. But why would she do that though? She had so much left to live for, not to mention, a little girl to take care of.

Trowa stood next to Midii and held her as she sobbed.

"Why couldn't we save her?" she murmured.

"It was her time to go," said Trowa, "Nothing could be done. She's happy now. She's with the man she loves."

Midii nodded and was comforted by the thought. She smiled up at him weakly, "The will says I have to get married. Mariemaia needs a mother and a father to help her through her grief. I don't know what to do..."

He kissed her forehead, "I'll marry you."

"You don't have to do that. I don't want to force you into a loveless marriage, Trowa. That just wouldn't be right."

"How are you so sure our union will be a loveless one?" he challenged.

"Because I betrayed you. You'd never trust me."

"I'm willing to take a leap of faith," he said, "For you and for that little girl."

Mariemaia had a bouquet of white roses in hand and was sobbing. She tossed the bouquet into the open grave. It landed neatly on the casket...

"If I do accept your offer," said Midii, "Will you make me a promise?"

"Anything."

"If you can't bring yourself to love me, leave me and don't tell me about it. I don't want to be hurt by a good bye."

"I'll never leave you," he said.

In the distance, Colin Fortunato stood behind a tree. He held a pistol to his head. Visions haunted him. Visions of her...

"You've driven me to insanity, Alexandra," he said as he watched them lower the casket and shovel loads of fresh dirt. It was a sunny day with a sky that taunted the sadness of the occasion with its happy blue hue.

Two of his fingers gripped the trigger and the gun fired a bullet into his head. The sound echoed and everyone at the funeral heard it as Colin's body fell with a thud. Two preventers immediately rushed to the source of a noise and called the emergency hotline.

"_That's funny," thought Une to herself as Treize held her in his embrace. They had been watching the funeral with much interest._

"_I came back down to earth to visit my murderer and forgive him and how does he repay me? He commits suicide at my funeral."_

"_Don't be flustered, Lady," said Treize as they faded into the netherworld once more, "He'll burn. You'll see."_

"_And us?" she said as they prepared to leave the land of the living, "Will we burn?"_

"_No, my dear, we both died for a greater good, didn't we? I, for peace and you, to save a life... God will grant us mercy."_

"_I hope so..."_

* * *

So there's Chapter 11. It's supposed to be the last chapter but it leaves one hanging doesn't it? Tell you what! Send me reviews with what you want to happen next. How will the president react to her brother's suicide and will Une's murder ever be solved? How will Heero manage as the new chief? Will Dorothy and Quatre ever wake up? What about Relena? And, the biggest question, how will Trowa and Midii manage being married? After not updating for so long, you guys must want to wring my neck. Do forgive me. I had school to attend to. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Benevolent Hearts**

**By mistress amethyst une**

**Chapter 12**

A murderer's suicide at a victim's funeral was such a strange occurrence. They found a note in his pocket written on a handkerchief. The white handkerchief belonged to the victim. This was known since the Preventer seal was embroidered on the handkerchief. One could assume he had taken it from her pocket while she was unconscious as a sort of remembrance of the murder. Now, the murder souvenir made up the murderer's suicide note. In a messy scrawl was written:

_I forced her to drink poison for the sake of revenge. She haunts me but I have no regrets._

"He was in denial," said Midii.

It had been three months since the funeral and the murder had been solved thanks to Colin's unfortunate suicide. His home had been searched and all parties involved in wreaking havoc within the Preventers had been tried and convicted with amazing speed. President Lorelei Fortunato showed no pity towards the conspirators believing them to have driven her brother to murder and madness.

Integral to the investigations was Colin's diary. Though undated, the entries were fairly recent and only three pages had been filled in.

The first entry read:

_I killed her and am now overcome with an urge to write about it. I don't know why. To remember? To tell myself that I really did it? I know I did it. I've fulfilled revenge for those she killed in the Neo-Leo incident. I keep telling myself she was an evil woman. She deserved to die. Still, why don't I believe myself? I have a piece of her with me. Her handkerchief... I took it from her pocket while she slept. I left the room and put it in my bag. When I came back in, she was awake. It's all so clear to me. I taunted her mercilessly before telling her to poison herself. I taunted her as she died then I left. I just left her there... For all I know, she survived the poison. Did I really do such a horrible thing? Did I really kill her?_

Then the second entry:

_It's on the news, she's dead. I dream of her every night now. It's always the same. She comes towards me. She's in her Preventer uniform, the clothes she was wearing when she died. The clothes she was wearing when I killed her... She embraces me and says, "I forgive you." I should be comforted, shouldn't I? Why does it feel so wrong? Why do I feel like I owe her something? She was evil! What right has she to forgive me! I killed her because she was evil! She deserved it! I did nothing wrong! I have nothing to be forgiven for! I am not sorry!_

And the third:

_Today, I die. I'll deal with Alexandra in hell!_

"Hmph!" said Midii in annoyance when she was permitted to read the entries, "What makes him think Lady Une would end up in hell? He'll burn alone!"

Trowa held her to calm her down. He could feel her outrage and he wasn't the least bit surprised to feel a trickle of tears against his shoulder as he hugged her.

"She wasn't evil!" sobbed Midii, "The Neo-Leos were an accident! Oh Trowa! Why couldn't we do anything to save her? The media's gotten their hands on this diary. What will they think of her?"

"They won't think badly of her," he said comfortingly, "Who'd believe the ramblings of a vengeful murderer anyway?"

"He was the president's brother. Some of them might assume-"

"They'll assume nothing."

"Oh come on, Trowa. She was an austere woman! Some people might think she meant for the Neo-Leo incident to happen. That she did something so awful, the president's brother was driven insane by it! That she deserved to be murdered!"

"Well, she didn't. You think so. I think so. Everyone who matters thinks so. Isn't that enough? Now, calm down. The wedding's in a week and we can't have you like this."

After the incident at the funeral, things had gone in a rather strange direction. Heero was now the new Preventer Chief and was engaged to be married to Relena. It was a powerful allegiance between the armed forces and politics so nobody contested the match. Heero wasn't about to let Relena go after almost losing her.

As for Dorothy and Quatre, they had awoken and fully recovered. They had chosen to forego the fancy wedding and instead opted for a simple ceremony with just friends and family attending. Still due to Romafeller's stipulations, the ceremony was Catholic though the Maguanacs and Quatre's sisters hardly minded. Midii had been invited at the last minute since Dorothy had befriended her. As if by fate, Midii caught the bouquet at the reception.

Finally, Midii and Trowa were married. It was hardly a lavish event. Une's death still cast a shadow over the occasion. After all, it had been her will that specified that Midii would have to get married in order to gain custody of Mariemaia and help the girl manage the Khushrenada fortune until she was of legal age.

"This feels wrong," thought Midii as she stepped out of the chapel with her new husband, "Shouldn't we be happy?"

Mrs. Midii Barton hardly smiled during the reception. Her husband's kisses were cold. Why? Was it really like that?

Still, looking at sad little Mariemaia garbed as a flower girl, she knew it was her duty to make the marriage work. Even if Trowa had just wed her out of obligation, she intended to ignite his love for her. She knew it was there but it was a tiny ember in an ocean of darkness. She intended to make it burn brighter than a million suns, no matter what it took.

He surprised her though. That night, after they had tucked Mariemaia in and moved into their new room within Une's estate, which was now theirs, he surprised her with an unparalleled passion.

"I'm sorry for the light kisses all day," he said as he caught her in a passionate embrace, "I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off of you."

She was shocked to say the least. He was always so self-possessed and cool about matters.

"What are you do-" she began before he proceeded to plunder her mouth for kisses.

He came up for air and walked away from her to regain his composure. He sat on the bed and patted the space beside him signaling he wanted her to sit next to him. She obliged.

"I know it's odd," he said as he took a deep breath, "Seeing me like this... I'm not myself. The truth of the matter is I jumped at the chance to marry you. I just hid my excitement because I'm not used to all that pomp and circumstance. Midii, I don't know why but I want you in every way for every remaining day of my life."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't feel I could. I didn't feel I mattered enough to you. But now you're my wife and I want you to know that even if you consider our union a loveless one, I don't. I love you enough for both of us."

"Oh Trowa... I thought you didn't love me. I'm so happy you feel the same way I do."

He smiled, "I have dreams for us. We'll raise Mariemaia as our daughter and everything will be wonderful."

He then added with a wicked grin, "And we'll give her a brood of brothers and sisters to keep her company."

Midii felt tears of happiness rolling down her face as she bestowed a passionate kiss upon his lips, "I guess we'd better get started. Although I'm not sure I'll ever be used to you being so uninhibited with your feelings."

He smiled, "Consider that your fault, my dear. I don't think I'll ever be stoic again."

* * *

Ok, does the ending suck? I wanted a happy ending after killing Une. Too sappy? Too abrupt? This is your last chance to review this fic! Please review and make me happy! I started this in 2004 and now I'm finally finished! Two long years of writing this has definitely helped me evolve as a writer. I thank those who have been reading for the past two years. The ones who haven't been frustrated or bored with me despite the long gaps between updates... I can't believe it's finally finished! 


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